MY MEMOIRS
BY
ALEXANDRE DUMAS
TRANSLATED BY
E. M. WALLER
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
ANDREW LANG
IN SIX VOLUMES
VOL. IV
1830 TO 1831
WITH A FRONTISPIECE
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1908
CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
Mademoiselle Georges' house--Harel and Jules Janin--Young
Tom and Popol--The latter's prayer against cholera--Georges'
Oriental style of living--Her cleanliness--Harel's fault to
the contrary--Twenty-four thousand francs flung out of the
window--Saint Anthony--Piaff-Piaff--His dissoluteness--His
death--His funeral oration
CHAPTER II
M. Briffaut, Censor and Academician--History of _Ninus
II._--M. de Lourdoueix--The idea of _Antony_--The piece
received by the Français is stopped by the Censorship--The
Duc de Chartres--Negotiations for his presence with
that of his two brothers at the first representation of
_Christine_--Louët--An autograph of the Prince Royal
CHAPTER III
The first representation of _Hernani_--The old ace of
spades--The old man has a quarrel--Parodies--Origin of
the story of Cabrion and of Pipelet--Eugène Sue and
Desmares--Soulié returns to me--He offers me fifty of his
workmen in the capacity of applauders--First representation
of _Christine_--A supper at my lodgings--Hugo and de Vigny
correct the objectionable lines
CHAPTER IV
A passing cab--Madame Dorval in the _Incendiaire_--Two
actresses--The Duc d'Orléans asks for the Cross of the
Legion of Honour on my behalf--His recommendation has no
effect--M. Empis--Madame Lafond's Salon--My costume as
Arnaute--Madame Malibran--Brothers and sisters in Art
CHAPTER V
Why the Duc d'Orléans' recommendation on the subject of my
croix d'honneur failed--The indemnity of a milliard--La
Fayette's journey to Auvergne--His reception at
Grenoble, Vizille and at Lyons--Charles X.'s journey to
Alsace--Varennes and Nancy--Opening of the Chambers--The
royal speech and the Address of the 221--Article 14--The
conquest of Algiers and the recapture of our Rhine frontiers
CHAPTER VI
The soirée on 31 May 1830 at the Palais-Royal--The King
of Naples--A question of etiquette--How the King of
France ought to be addressed--The real Charles X.--M. de
Salvandy--The first flames of the volcano--The Duc de
Chartres sends me to inquire into the commotion--Alphonse
Signol--I tear him from the clutches of a soldier of the
Garde royal--His irritation and threats--The volcano nothing
but a fire of straw
CHAPTER VII
A pressing affair--One witness lost, and two
found--Rochefort--Signol at the Théâtre des Italiens--He
insults Lieutenant Marulaz--The two swords--The duel--Signol
is killed--_Victorine_ and _le Chiffonnier_--Death steps in
BOOK II
CHAPTER I
Alphonse Karr--The cuirassier--The medal for life saving
and the Cross of the Légion d'honneur--Karr's home at
Montmartre--_Sous les tilleuls_ and the critics--The taking
of Algiers--M. Dupin senior--Why he did not write his
Memoirs--Signing of the Ordinances of July--Reasons that
prevented my going to Algiers
CHAPTER II
The third storey of No. 7 in the rue de l'Université--The
first results of the Ordinances--The café du Roi--Étienne
Arago--François Arago--The Academy--La Bourse--Le
Palais-Royal--Madame de Leuven--Journey in search of her
husband and son--Protest of the journalists--Names of the
signatories
CHAPTER III
The morning of July 27--Visit to my mother--Paul
Foucher--_Amy Robsart_--Armand Carrel--The office of
the _Temps_--Baude--The Commissary of Police--The
three locksmiths--The office of the _National_--Cadet
Gassicourt--Colonel Gourgaud--M. de Rémusat--Physiognomy of
the passers-by
CHAPTER IV
Doctor Thibaut--The Government of Gérard and
Mortemart--Étienne Arago and Mazue, the Superintendent of
Police--The café Gobillard--Fire at the guard-house in the
place de la Bourse--The first barricades--The night
CHAPTER V
The morning of the 27th--Joubert--Charles Teste--_La Petite
Jacobinière_--Chemist Robinet--The arms used in _Sergent
Mathieu_--Pillage of an armourer's stores--The three Royal
Guards--A tall and fair young man--Oudard's fears
CHAPTER VI
The aspect of the rue de Richelieu--Charras--L'École
polytechnique--The head with the wig--The café of the
Porte Saint-Honoré--The tricoloured flag--I become head
of a troop--My landlord gives me notice--A gentleman who
distributes powder--The captain of the 15th Light Infantry
CHAPTER VII
The attack on the Hôtel de Ville--Rout--I take refuge
at M. Lethière's--The news--My landlord becomes
generous--General La Fayette--Taschereau--Béranger--The
list of the Provisional Government--Honest mistake of the
_Constitutionnel_
CHAPTER VIII
Invasion of the Artillery Museum--Armour of François
I.--Charles IX.'s arquebuse--La place de l'Odéon--What
Charras had been doing--The uniform of the École
polytechnique--Millotte--The prison Montaigu--The barracks
of l'Estrapade--D'Hostel--A Bonapartist--Riding-master
Chopin--Lothon--The general in command
CHAPTER IX
Aspect of the Louvre--Fight on the Pont des Arts--The
dead and wounded--A cannon ball for myself--Madame
Guyet-Desfontaines--Return from the Babylone
barracks--Charras's cockade--The taking of the Tuileries--A
copy of _Christine_--Quadrille danced in the Tuileries
court--The men _who made the Revolution of 1830_
BOOK III
CHAPTER I
I go in search of Oudard--The house at the corner of the rue
de Rohan--Oudard is with Laffitte--Degousée--General Pajol
and M. Dupin--The officers of the 53rd Regiment--Interior
of Laffitte's salon--Panic--A deputation comes to offer La
Fayette the command of Paris--He accepts--Étienne Arago and
the tricoloured cockade--History of the Hôtel de Ville from
eight in the morning to half-past three in the afternoon
CHAPTER II
General La Fayette at the Hôtel de Ville--Charras and his
men--"The Prunes of Monsieur"--The Municipal Commission--Its
first Act--Casimir Périer's bank--General Gérard--The
Duc de Choiseul--What happened at Saint-Cloud--The three
negotiators--It is too late--M. d'Argout with Laffitte
CHAPTER III
Alexander de la Borde--Odilon Barrot--Colonel
Dumoulin--Hippolyte Bonnelier--My study--A note in
Oudard's handwriting--The Duc de Chartres is arrested at
Montrouge--The danger he incurred and how he was saved--I
propose to go to Soissons to fetch gunpowder--I procure
my commission from General Gérard--La Fayette draws up a
proclamation for me--The painter bard--M. Thiers to the fore
once more
CHAPTER IV
Gee up, Polignac!--André Marchais--Post-master at Bourget--I
display the Tricolour on my carriage--Bard joins me--M.
Cunin-Gridaine--Old Levasseur--Struggle with him--I blow
out his brains!--Two old acquaintances--The terror of
Jean-Louis--Our halt at Villers-Cotterets--Hutin--Supper
with Paillet
CHAPTER V
Arrival at Soissons--Strategic preparations--Reconnaissance
round the magazine--Hutin and Bard plant the
tricolour flag upon the cathedral--I climb the wall
of the powder magazine--Captain Mollard--Sergeant
Ragon--Lieutenant-Colonel d'Orcourt--Parleys with them--They
promise me neutrality
CHAPTER VI
How matters had proceeded with the sacristan--The four-inch
gun--Bard as gunner--The commander of the fort--Lieutenant
Tinga--M. de Lenferna--M. Bonvilliers--Madame de
Linières--The revolt of the negroes--The conditions upon
which the commander of the fort signed the order--M.
Moreau--M. Quinette--The Mayor of Soissons--Bard and the
green plums
CHAPTER VII
The Mayor of Soissons--The excise-office powder--M.
Jousselin-- The hatchet belonging to the
warehouse-keeper--M. Quinette--I break open the door of
the powder magazine--Triumphant exit from Soissons--M.
Mennesson attempts to have me arrested--The Guards of the
Duc d'Orléans--M. Boyer--Return to Paris--"Those devils of
Republicans!"
CHAPTER VIII
First Orléanist proclamation--MM. Thiers and Scheffer go to
Neuilly--The evening at Saint-Cloud--Charles X. revokes the
Ordinances--Republican deputation at the Hôtel de Ville--M.
de Sussy--Audry de Puyraveau--Republican proclamation--La
Fayette's reply to the Duc de Mortemart--Charras and Mauguin
CHAPTER IX
Philippe VII.--How Béranger justified himself for
having helped to make a King--The Duc d'Orléans during
the three days--His arrival in Paris on the evening of
the 30th--He sends for M. de Mortemart--Unpublished
letter by him to Charles X.--Benjamin Constant and
Laffitte--Deputation of the Chamber to the Palais-Royal--M.
Sébastiani--M. de Talleyrand--The Duc d'Orléans accepts the
Lieutenant-Generalship of the Kingdom--Curious papers found
at the Tuileries
CHAPTER X
The Duc d'Orléans goes to the Hôtel de Ville--M. Laffitte
in his sedan-chair--The king _sans culotte_--Tardy
manifestation of the Provisional Government--Odilon Barrot
sleeps on a milestone--Another Balthasar Gérard--The Duc
d'Orléans is received by La Fayette--A superb voice--Fresh
appearance of general Dubourg--The balcony of the Hôtel de
Ville--The road to Joigny
BOOK IV
CHAPTER I
M. Thiers' way of writing history--Republicans at the
Palais-Royal--Louis-Philippe's first ministry--Casimir
Périer's cunning--My finest drama--Lothon and Charras--A
sword-thrust--The posting-master of Bourget once more--La
Fère--Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau--Lothon and General La
Fayette
CHAPTER II
Letter of Charles X. to the Duc d'Orléans--A
conjuring trick--Return of the Duc de Chartres to the
Palais-Royal--Bourbons and Valois--Abdication of Charles
X.--Preparations for the expedition of Rambouillet--An
idea of Harel--The scene-shifters of the Odéon--Nineteen
persons in one fiacre--Distribution of arms at the
Palais-Royal--Colonel Jacqueminot
CHAPTER III
Mission of four commissioners to Charles X.--General
Pajol--He is appointed commander of the Paris
Volunteers--Charras offers to be his aide-de-camp--The map
of Seine-et-Oise--The spies--The hirer of carriages--Rations
of bread--D'Arpentigny--The taking of the artillery of
Saint-Cyr--Halt at Cognières--M. Detours
CHAPTER IV
Boyer the Cruel--The ten thousand rations of bread--General
Exelmans and Charras--The concierge at the prefecture
of Versailles--M. Aubernon--Colonel Poque--Interview of
Charles X. with MM. de Schonen, Odilon Barrot and Marshal
Maison--The Royal Family leave Rambouillet--Panic--The crown
jewels--Return to Paris
CHAPTER V
Harel's idea--It is suggested I should compose _La
Parisienne_--Auguste Barbier--My state of morals after the
Three Days--I turn solicitor--Breakfast with General La
Fayette--My interview with him--An indiscreet question--The
Marquis de Favras--A letter from Monsieur--My commission
CHAPTER VI
Léon Pillet--His uniform--Soissonnais susceptibility--Hard
returns to the charge with his play--I set out for
la Vendée--The quarry--I obtain pardon for a coiner
condemned to the galleys--My stay at Meurs--Commandant
Bourgeois--Disastrous effect of the tricolours in le
Bocage--Fresh proofs that a kindness done is never lost
CHAPTER VII
A warning to Parisian sportsmen--Clisson--The château of
M. Lemot--My guide--The Vendean column--The battle of
Torfou--Two omitted names--Piffanges--Tibulle and the
Loire--Gilles de Laval--His edifying death--Means taken to
engrave a remembrance on the minds of children
CHAPTER VIII
Le Bocage--Its deep lanes and hedges--The Chouan
tactics--Vendean horses and riders--Vendean politics--The
Marquis de la Bretèche and his farmers--The means I
suggested to prevent a fresh Chouannerie--The tottering
stone--I leave la Jarrie--Adieux to my guide
CHAPTER IX
The Nantes Revolution--Régnier--Paimbœuf--Landlords and
travellers--Jacomety--The native of la Guadeloupe and his
wife--Gull shooting--Axiom for sea-bird shooting--The
captain of _la Pauline_--Woman and swallow--Lovers'
superstition--Getting under sail
CHAPTER X
Story of Bougainville and his friend the curé of Boulogne
CHAPTER XI
Breakfast on deck--Saint-Nazaire--A thing husbands
never think of--Noirmontiers --Belle-Ile--I leave the
two Paulines--The rope-ladder--The ship's boat--A total
immersion--The inn at Saint-Nazaire--I throw money through
the window--A batch of clothes--Return to Paris
BOOK V
CHAPTER I
Confidential letter from Louis-Philippe to the Emperor
Nicholas--The Czar's reply--What France could do after the
Revolution of July--Louis-Philippe and Ferdinand VII.--The
Spanish refugees--Reaction in the Home department--Scraping
of the public monuments--Protest
CHAPTER II
The drama of Saint-Leu--The bravery of the Duc d'Aumale--The
arrest of MM. Peyronnet, Chantelauze, Guernon-Ranville and
Polignac--Madame de Saint-Fargeau's servant--Thomas and M.
de Polignac--The ex-ministers at Vincennes--The abolition
of the death penalty in the Chamber--La Fayette--M. de
Kératry--Salverte--Death to the ministers--Vive Odilon
Barrot and Pétion!
CHAPTER III
Oudard tells me that Louis-Philippe wishes to see me--Visit
to M. Deviolaine--Hutin, supernumerary horse-guardsman--My
interview with the king about la Vendée and the policy of
_juste milieu_--Bixio an artilleryman--He undertakes to get
me enrolled in his battery--I send in my resignation to
Louis-Philippe
CHAPTER IV
First performance of _la Mère et la Fille_--I have supper
with Harel after the performance--Harel imprisons me after
supper--I am sentenced to eight days' enforced work at
_Napoléon_--On the ninth day the piece is read to the
actors and I am set at liberty--The rehearsals--The actor
Charles--His story about Nodier
CHAPTER V
I am officially received into the Artillery Corps of the
National Guard--_Antony_ is put under rehearsal at the
Théâtre-Français--Ill-will of the actors--Treaty between
Hugo and the manager of the Porte-Saint-Martin--Firmin's
proposition and confidence--Mademoiselle Mars' dresses
and the new gas lights--I withdraw _Antony_ from the
Théâtre-Français--I offer Dorval the part of Adèle
CHAPTER VI
My agreements with Dorval--I read _Antony_--Her
impressions-- She makes me alter the last act there
and then--Merle's room--Bocage as artist--Bocage as
negotiator--Reading to M. Crosnier--He falls into a profound
slumber--The play nevertheless is accepted
APPENDIX
THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
Mademoiselle Georges' house--Harel and Jules Janin--Young
Tom and Popol--The latter's prayer against cholera--Georges'
Oriental style of living--Her cleanliness--Harel's fault to
the contrary--Twenty-four thousand francs flung out of the
window--Saint Anthony--Piaff-Piaff--His dissoluteness--His
death--His funeral oration
My _Christine_ rehearsals had opened Mademoiselle Georges' house
to me, as those of _Henri III._ had given me the entrée to that of
Mademoiselle Mars.
The house that my good and excellent Georges occupied, No. 12
rue Madame, was, if I remember rightly, made up of very original
inhabitants. First of all, in the attics lived Jules Janin, the second
tenant. Then came Harel, the principal tenant, who lived on the second
floor. And on the first and ground floors were Georges, her sister and
her two nephews. One of these two nephews, who is now a tall, fine,
clever-looking young fellow who bears the name of Harel, had for a long
time figured regularly on his aunt's playbills, both in the provinces
and in Paris, for she could not do without him, either at the theatre
or about town.
My readers will recollect the phrase which never varied for five or six
years running--
"Young Tom, aged ten, will take the part of," etc.
The other names would vary from that of Joas to that of Thomas
Diafoirus; but the age never varied: young Tom was always ten.
We ought to be fair to young Tom; he hated acting and, every time he
had to go on the stage, he would mutter between his teeth--
"Curse the theatre! If only it could be burnt down!"
"What is that you are saying, Tom?" Mademoiselle Georges would ask.
"Nothing, aunt," Tom would reply; "I am only repeating my part."
His brother Paul, who was called "le petit Popol," was by far the
funniest looking object that was ever seen: he had a charming head,
with fine dark eyes and long chestnut hair, but his body was too small
to carry the head. This disproportion gave the child a very grotesque
appearance: he was immensely clever, a gourmand like Grimod de la
Reynière, and the very opposite of Tom in that he would have stuck to
the stage all his life, if he could only have managed to get plenty to
eat thereby.
At the time when I first became acquainted with him, he was only a
little monkey of six or seven years of age, and already he had devised
a way of establishing a credit account at the café at the corner of
the rue de Vaugirard and the rue de Molière, by means of all sorts of
ingenious excuses. One fine day it was found out that little Popol's
account amounted to a hundred crowns! In three months he had run
through three hundred francs' worth of all kinds of confectionery and
drinks, which he had asked for in his mother's name, or in that of his
aunt, and which he had eaten or drunk on staircases, in corridors or
behind doorways. He it was who, in _Richard Darlington_, was placed
in such a manner as to make him appear the height of an ordinary man,
representing the Speaker of the House of Commons. In this capacity he
had a bell at his right hand and a glass of eau sucrée at his left; he
rang the bell with the gravity of M. Dupin, and drank the glass of eau
sucrée with the dignity of M. Barrot. The little beggar never would
learn his prayers, and this gave the Voltairian Harel immense delight;
however, all at once (it was during an epidemic of cholera), they found
out that little Popol said a prayer, morning and evening, which he had,
no doubt, improvised to suit the occasion.
They were curious to know what this prayer was and, hiding themselves
to listen, overheard the following:--
"O Lord God! take my Aunt Georges; take my Uncle Harel; take my brother
Tom; take mamma Bébelle; take my friend Provost, but leave little Popol
and the cook!"
But the prayer did not bring the poor little fellow the luck he
fervently wished: cholera took him, and carried him off, with fifteen
hundred others in the same day.
We have said who his brother Tom was; we have all seen how "mamma
Bébelle" acted under the name of Georges the younger: now let us say a
few words about Aunt Georges, the most beautiful woman of her day, and
about Uncle Harel, the wittiest man of his time.
Well, Georges' aunt was a splendid-looking creature of about forty-one.
We have already given a sketch of her portrait by the clever pen of
Théophile Gautier. Her hands and arms and shoulders, her neck, teeth
and eyes, were of indescribable charm and beauty; but, like the lovely
fairy Melusina, there was a certain weariness visible in her movements
which was increased by the wearing of far too long dresses--why, I know
not, for her feet were as lovely as her hands.
Mademoiselle Georges' idleness, except in matters connected with
the theatre, wherein she was always alert, was incredible, Tall and
majestic, aware of her beauty, with two emperors and three or four
kings for admirers, Georges loved to lie on a big couch, in velvet
robes, furred pelisses and Indian cashmere shawls, during winter; in
summer, in teagowns of batiste or muslin. Thus extended, in a pose
that was always careless and graceful, Georges received the visits of
strangers, sometimes with the majesty of a Roman matron, at others with
the smile of a Grecian courtesan; whilst from between the folds of her
dress, the openings of her shawls and the skirts of her teagowns,
there would peep out the heads of two or three hares of the very best
breed, looking like as many snakes' heads. Georges' love of cleanliness
was proverbial: she would perform a preliminary toilet before she
entered her bath, so as not to soil the water in which she stayed for
an hour; here she received her familiar friends, fastening up her hair
with golden pins, from time to time, when it came down; her splendid
arms uplifted entirely free of the water, her throat and bosom seeming
as though sculptured in Parian marble. And it was a singular thing that
these actions, which in another woman would have been provocative and
lascivious, were simple and natural in Georges, like those of a Greek
of the time of Homer or Phidias; as beautiful as a statue, she looked
simply like a statue surprised at its own nudity, and she would, I am
sure, have been much surprised if a jealous lover had forbidden her to
show herself thus in her bath, where, like a sea-nymph, she made the
water heave with the motion of her shoulders and her white breasts.
Georges made everybody round her clean in his habits except Harel.
But Harel was another matter altogether. Cleanliness meant an immense
sacrifice to him, and this sacrifice he would only make under strong
pressure and constraint. So Georges, who adored him, and could not
do without his delightfully witty chatter at her ears incessantly,
declared to all comers that it was only his mind she loved, and that,
as to the rest of his personality, she left him free to do what he
liked with it.
At that period Georges still possessed magnificent diamonds and, among
them, two buttons which had been given her by Napoleon and which
were each worth nearly twelve thousand francs. She had had them set
as earrings and wore them in preference to all others. These buttons
were so large that Georges very frequently, on returning home in the
evening, after acting, took them off, complaining that they pulled her
ears down. One evening, we returned with her and sat down to supper.
When supper was over, we ate almonds; Georges ate a great number and,
whilst eating, complained of the weight of these earrings, took
them out of her ears and laid them on the tablecloth. Five minutes
later, the servant came, brush in hand, to brush the crumbs off the
table, swept earrings and almond shells together into a basket, and
both earrings and shells were thrown clean out of the window into the
street. Georges went to bed without remembering her earrings, and slept
peacefully; philosophic though she was, she would certainly not have
done this if she had known that her servant had thrown twenty-four
thousand francs' worth of diamonds out of the window.
Next day, Georges the younger came into the room to wake her sister.
"Well," she said, "you may well boast of being lucky indeed! Look what
I have just found."
"What is it?"
"One of your earrings."
"Where did you pick that up?"
"In the street."
"In the street?"
"Yes, my dear ... in the street, at the door.... You must have lost it
when you came back from the theatre."
"No, I had them on at supper."
"Are you sure of it?"
"So sure that, because they tired me, I took them out and laid them by
my side. What can I have done with them afterwards? ... Where can I
have put them?"
"Why, good gracious!" exclaimed Georges the younger. "I remember now:
we were eating almonds and the servant swept the table with the brush."
"Ah! my poor earrings!" cried Georges, in her turn. "Go downstairs
quickly and look, Bébelle!"
Bébelle was already at the bottom of the staircase and, five minutes
later, she returned with the second earring, which she had found in the
gutter.
"My darling," she said to her sister, "we are very lucky. Have a mass
said, or some great misfortune will overtake us."
We have referred to Harel's dislike of cleanliness: it was universally
well known, and he himself took a kind of pride in it; he was a man
who delighted in contradictions and it amused him to enlarge upon this
odd superiority. When he saw Georges lying on her couch surrounded by
her well washed and combed dogs with their morocco leather collars
round their necks, he sighed with ambition. For his ambition--and it
was one he had often expressed but never realised--was to keep a pig!
He considered Saint Anthony was the happiest of saints and, like him,
he was ready to retire into a desert if Providence would condescend to
allow him the same companion. As Harel's birthday approached, Georges
and I decided to crown his modest desires: we purchased for twenty-two
livres _tournois_ a pig three or four months old; we put a diamond
crown upon its head, a bouquet of roses at its side, rings of precious
stones round its feet and, conducting it in state like a bride, we
entered the dining-room at what we believed to be the most suitable
moment to favour Harel with this sweet surprise. At the cries the new
arrival uttered, Harel at once abandoned his conversation with Lockroy
and Janin, attractive though it was, and ran towards us. The pig held
a complimentary letter in one of its feet which it presented to Harel.
Harel leapt upon his pig--for he guessed instantly that the pig was
for him--pressed it to his heart, rubbed his nose on its snout, made
it sit next him in Popol's high chair, tied it in the chair with one
of Georges' scarves and began to stuff it with all sorts of dainties.
The pig was christened there and then, and received from Harel (who
vowed to undertake the obligations of a godfather towards his godchild)
the euphonious name of Piaff-Piaff. That very night, Harel retired to
his second storey with Piaff-Piaff and, as nobody had thought of the
animal's bed, Harel carried away with him one of Georges' velvet gowns
and made a litter of it for the pig. This theft led next day to a
tremendous altercation between Georges and Harel, in which we, who were
called in to judge between the two, sentenced Harel to pay Georges two
hundred francs' indemnity for the night's use. The dress was sent to a
shop, and page-boys' costumes were made out of it. Harel's love for
his pig became quite fanatical. One day he came up to me at a rehearsal
and said--
"Do you know, my dear fellow, I am so fond of my pig that I sleep with
him!"
"So I understand," I replied. "I have just met your pig, who told me
exactly the same thing."
I believe this was the only quip to which Harel never found a retort.
In common with all over petted animals, Piaff-Piaff grew conscious of
his power, abused it, and one day things ended by turning out very
badly for him. Piaff-Piaff, well fed, well housed, constantly petted,
sleeping with Harel, attained to the honourable weight of a hundred and
fifty pounds; which--for we calculated it--was fifty pounds more than
Janin weighed, thirty pounds more than Lockroy, ten pounds more than I,
fifty-five pounds less than Eric Bernard; it was decreed in a council
from which Harel was excluded, that when Piaff-Piaff reached the
weight of two hundred pounds he should be made into black pudding and
sausages. Unfortunately for himself, each day he committed some fresh
depredation in the house, which led to a general threat to hasten the
hour of his demise, and yet, in spite of all these ill deeds, Harel's
worship of Piaff-Piaff was so well known that the strictest resolutions
always ended by granting him pardon. But, one day, Piaff-Piaff was
prowling round a kind of cage where a magnificent pheasant was kept
that I had given to Tom; the pheasant had the imprudence to poke its
neck through two bars to peck at a grain of corn, and Piaff-Piaff
stretched out his snout and bit off the pheasant's head. Tom was only
a few steps off, saw the deed accomplished, and set up loud shrieks.
But the pheasant, when decapitated, was only fit to be roasted.
Piaff-Piaff, in attacking everybody else, had had the sense to respect
Tom's property; he had, as we have said, frequently benefited by
the plea of extenuating circumstances, but this last clumsy outrage
left him no sympathiser, however eloquent, who could save him from
being killed. Georges emphatically declared that he deserved death
and no one, not even Janin, dared contradict the sentence. Judgment
declared, it was decided to take advantage of Harel's absence to put
it into execution, and, whilst everybody was hot against the offender,
the butcher was sent for and told to bring his knife. Five minutes
later, Piaff-Piaff raised shrieks loud enough to rouse the whole
neighbourhood. The street door was held fast to keep Harel out if he
happened to come back at that moment; but we had forgotten that the
garden possessed an exit to the Luxembourg and that Harel might come in
that way. Suddenly, as Piaff-Piaff was uttering the doleful notes which
signified that his death was drawing near at hand, the door opened and
Harel appeared, crying out--
"What are you doing to my poor Piaff-Piaff? What is the matter with
him?"
"Well," said Georges, "your horrid Piaff-Piaff had grown too
unbearable."
"Ah! poor animal! poor beast!" cried Harel; "they are cutting his
throat!" Then, after a moment's pause, he said in sorrowful tones, "At
any rate, I hope you told the butcher to put plenty of onions in the
black pudding--I adore onions!"
And that was Piaff-Piaff s funeral oration.
CHAPTER II
M. Briffaut, Censor and Academician--History of _Ninus II._--M. de
Lourdoueix--The idea of _Antony_--The piece received by the Français is
stopped by the Censorship--The Duc de Chartres--Negotiations for his
presence with that of his two brothers at the first representation of
_Christine_--Louët--An autograph of the Prince Royal
It was into the midst of such society as this, differing greatly in
its humour from that of the Comédie-Française, that the rehearsals of
_Christine_ carried me. Just as in the case of _Henri III._, all our
artist friends offered their services to me: Boulanger had designed one
half the costumes and Saint-Ève the other, when suddenly we received
the official intimation--"The piece is stopped."
First _Marion Delorme_ was stopped, then _Christine_! Truly the
Censorship was getting its hand in.
I went to the Ministry and found that my play was in the hands of M.
Briffaut, author of _Ninus II._ The history of _Ninus II._ might surely
make M. Briffaut indulgent to others. But forgive me, perhaps you do
not know the history of _Ninus II._ I will tell it you.
M. Briffaut had, in 1809 or 1810, written a play under some title or
other, the scene of which was laid in Spain. But it was stopped by the
Censorship. A friend of M. Briffaut appealed to Napoleon against the
decision of the Censors. Napoleon read the play and found it contained
some lines in praise of Spaniards.
"The Censorship was right to forbid it," he said. "It does not at all
suit me to have a people praised with whom I am at war!"
"But, sire, what is to become of the author?" the friend asked humbly
and sympathetically. "He has composed but this one play and may never
write another all his life long; he was counting upon this as an
opening to many ambitions--sire, you will ruin his career!"
"Very well, then; if he puts his action, say, in Assyria, instead of
in Spain, I will raise no objection; and, instead of calling his hero
Pélage, he calls him Ninus I. or Ninus II, I will authorise it."
Now M. Briffaut was not going to be stopped by such conditions as
these, so he called his play _Ninus II._; then, wherever the word
_Spaniards_ came in, he altered it into _Assyrians_, and _Burgos_ into
_Babylon_: it made it awkward in altering the rhymes, but that was
all;--and the play was authorised and played; it was, no doubt, on
account of this herculean feat, that they made M. Briffaut a member of
the Academy. He was, on the whole, a very good fellow, and not unduly
proud of having done nothing--a superiority which renders many of my
colleagues insolent.
We discussed at length, not the literary, but the political, defects of
the unhappy _Christine._ It seemed she bristled with them; and the poor
Censor, whose touch was very delicate, did not really know where to lay
his hands on them. There was in particular this line which Christine
recites in allusion to her crown--
"C'est un hochet royal trouvé dans mon berceau!"
which was looked upon as a crime. In that line, I was attacking the
legitimacy, the divine right, the succession! I cannot tell you the
number of things I was attacking in it! For the moment I fancy I must,
without knowing it, have written my play in that fine Turkish tongue of
which Molière gives us a specimen in _Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_, which
is capable of expressing a great deal in very few words. Then there was
the sending of the crown to Cromwell--a very dangerous suggestion for
the Monarchy! It was in vain I protested that the incident was true to
history; that Christine had really sent the crown to the Protector, who
had had it melted down. To recall to humanity, which seemed to have
forgotten the episode, that it had really taken place, was looked upon
as a revolutionary and inflammatory act. Indeed, from M. Briffaut's
manner of dealing with history in _Ninus II._, it was obvious he did
not trouble himself much about historical facts. But, in spite of my
discussions with M. Briffaut, pleasant as they were rendered by his
affability, no progress was made, and thus, as Harel was pressed for
time, I was prevailed on to try and engage the good offices of M. de
Lourdoueix, the head of the Censorial staff.
I had been advised to get an introduction to M. de Lourdoueix by a lady
of high repute who was one of his friends; I do not know what her name
was, but I was given to understand that this was the only channel by
which he could be got at; like Raoul, however, in the _Huguenots_, I
was full of confidence in the justness of my cause; so, without any
introduction whatever, I made an expedition to the South Side, where M.
de Lourdoueix was to be found. I do not know whether M. de Lourdoueix
had composed a _Ninus III._ or _Ninus IV._, whether he belonged to the
Academy, or simply to the Caveau Club; but he was far from being as
courteous in his manner as M. Briffaut. Our interview was a brief one;
after five minutes' conversation, decidedly bitter on both sides, he
said--
"After all, monsieur, it is no use your saying anything further; for as
long as the Elder Branch is on the throne and I act as its Censor your
work will be suspended."
"Very well, monsieur," I replied, bowing; "I shall wait!"
"Monsieur," M. de Lourdoueix ironically remarked, "that decision had
been already arrived at."
"Then I repeat it," I said, and left him.
But it was a sufficiently serious threat: I had no longer the support
of M. de Martignac, that man of resource. The Polignac Ministry had
succeeded his, and I had no means of approaching the new President of
the Council. So I waited; the only weapon left me was patience and,
while I was waiting, one day when I was walking on the boulevard I
suddenly stopped and said to myself--
"A man who, when discovered by his mistress's husband, kills
her,--vowing that she had offered resistance to his addresses, and
dying on the scaffold for the murder,--saves the wife's honour and
expiates his crime."
The idea of _Antony_ was found; and, as I believe I have said
elsewhere, the character of the hero was suggested to me by that of
Didier in _Marion Delorme._ Six weeks later, _Antony_ was finished. I
read the piece to the Français, but the reading did not receive a very
warm welcome. I distributed my two leading parts between Mademoiselle
Mars and M. Firmin; but it was quite evident they would rather I had
chosen other interpreters for those characters. I sent the play to
the Censor, and it was stopped like _Christine_. This made a brace of
them. But, whether at the time there was a certain feeling of modesty
which has since been lost sight of, or whether I had some friend at
the background who was working for me--and I have always suspected
the excellent and highly cultivated Madame du Cayla of having been
that friend--whether, indeed, Harel really had the influence with the
Government he made out, the play of _Christine_ was returned to me
without any very great alteration, early in March. They had even left
in the famous line about the _hochet royal_, inflammatory though it was
said to be, and the sending of the crown to the Protector, in spite
of any possible catastrophe that might result from this historical
reminiscence! So the interrupted rehearsals were taken up again.
However, in the midst of all my worries, I still went constantly to the
Palais-Royal library, where I had made a new acquaintance. My fresh
acquaintance was the Duc de Chartres. He was at that time a charming
boy and has since become a charming prince; a bad enough scholar,
whatever his masters may say;--and for fear lest, for the honour of
the scholastic profession, they should give me the lie, I will just
give, as illustration, an anecdote thereon. The Duc de Chartres was
then, as I say, a winning lad of seventeen and, as I was twenty-seven,
the difference of age between us not being as great as that between
him and Casimir Delavigne, or between him and Vatout, it was to me
he generally turned. Moreover, at this time my name was being talked
about a great deal; all sorts of adventures were attributed to me,
as a host of sayings have since been put down to my account. I had
the passions of the African, they said, and they pointed to my frizzy
hair and dark complexion, which neither could nor would deny its
tropical origin. It all added to the curious interest felt towards
me by a boy on the verge of manhood, who had sympathy towards Art as
expressed by us, or, rather, as expressed by me, since at that date
Hugo had not yet published anything in the dramatic line. _Hernani_
was not to be performed until 25 February 1830, and the intimacy
of which I am speaking began about the end of 1829. So the Duc de
Chartres looked upon me as a man, if not of his own age, at least not
so very much older, and whenever he could get away, he would come and
have a chat with me. I should mention that the conversation was soon
diverted and passed from Art to artists, from the play to actors, and
that we were as much interested in discussing the relative merits of
Mademoiselle Louise Despréaux, of Mademoiselle Alexandrine Noblet and
of Mademoiselle Léontine Fay, as of _Henri III._ and _Christine._ But
our meetings never lasted long, for, at the end of a few minutes, we
heard the Duc d'Orléans chanting his mass, or some gentleman or other
shouting out the name of the Duc de Chartres, and the young prince who,
as a grown man, still trembled before the king, would run off through
some hidden door, stammering--
"Oh, Monsieur Dumas, do not tell them you have seen me!"
Some time before the performance of _Christine_, he had expressed his
anxiety to be present, with his two young brothers, at the production
of my second drama; but he was afraid permission would not be granted
him. Why did the poor lad come to me to help him? He came to beg me to
tell the Duc d'Orléans of my wish that his children should be present
at the performance of my play. I was quite prepared, on my side, to
make this request; and, the first time I saw His Highness, I ventured
to do so. The prince "_hummed_ and _hawed_" a little, to express his
mistrust with regard to the morality of a play which had ever come
under the ban of the Censorship; but I reassured him as best I could;
and, after a little pressure, I obtained leave for the young princes to
be present at the performance. I took good care to go to the library
on the Thursday following, for I felt certain I should see the Duc de
Chartres there, and he came, but he was accompanied by M. de Boismilon;
however, he managed to pass by me and to say in a whisper--
"We are going! Thank you."
But I have promised to give an anecdote illustrative of the idleness
of the Duc de Chartres--a fault they did their utmost to hide from his
father; the prizes young princes are usually loaded with serving to
divert his suspicions.
I will keep my promise.
In 1835 I took a journey to Italy with Jadin. Our intention was to
travel as real tourists, on foot, on horses or mules, in carriages,
_corricolo_ or _speronare_ or by boat; in short, just as we could. We
decided to leave France by way of the Gulf of Genoa; consequently, at
Hyères, we hired a sort of driver who, for a hundred francs, was to
take us to Nice, skirting the shores of the Gulf of Jouan, which would
enable us to stop for half a day. Jadin intended to make a drawing
of the shore where Napoleon had landed in 1815, meaning to have it
engraved later. The vetturino had stipulated, as his share of our
bargain, to be allowed to add four persons to our number, on condition
that they offered no opposition to a first halt of five or six hours at
Cannes, and a second halt at Grasse. Among the travellers accompanying
us was a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five, who was clad in a
blue dress coat, nankeen trousers, coloured stockings and laced shoes.
In my _Impressions de voyage_, I gave him the name of Chaix; in my
Memoirs, I must give him his real name, which was Louët. For a day and
a half, he never addressed a word to us; but our conversation appeared
to interest him enormously; he smiled at our jokes and listened
attentively to our much rarer serious remarks. At table, his place
was always laid by ours and, at our first sleeping-place, he arranged
not to be separated from us by anything more than a partition. When
we reached the Gulf of Jouan, he stopped and, whilst Jadin made his
drawing, I flung myself into the water for a bathe. Just as I was
undressing, Louët came up to me and, speaking to me for the first
time, asked permission to bathe with me. I did not at first detect the
punctilious politeness with which the request was put, and laughingly
replied that he was perfectly free to do whatever he liked. He thanked
me for the permission and took the most rational and least eventful of
baths I ever saw, in three and a half feet of water; then, when the
drawing and bathing were finished, we climbed into our carriage and
slept at Nice that same night. Three of our companions had already left
us, one at the heights of Draguignan and the two others at Grasse.
Louët alone remained faithful to us as far as Nice, which surprised me
the more as I had heard him tell the others who had accompanied him to
the carriage, just as he was parting from them, that he was on his way
to Paris.
Now Louët must have given a very wide meaning to the proverb, "Every
road leads to Rome," if he could persuade himself so far as to think
that the road from Toulon to Nice would take him to Paris. This
strange conduct on the part of our travelling-companion roused Jadin's
curiosity and mine, but it was at length explained by a request the
vetturino made on Louët's behalf, who dared not put it to us himself.
Louët had really started from Toulon to go to Paris, but he had been so
charmed with our fascinating conversation on the journey that, instead
of travelling only as far as Luc and there leaving for Draguignan
and Castellane, he had told the vetturino that, as he had never seen
Nice, he would go on to that place. When he reached Nice, he asked
through the vetturino whether, as a great favour, we would allow
him to continue the journey with us; hastening to tell us that his
society should cost us nothing, for he would pay a third of whatever
our expenses amounted to; the vetturino added, by way of parenthesis,
that Louët, whom he knew, had just come into a legacy of about thirty
thousand francs and was returning to Paris with it when he fell in
with us: after which he did not see how he could find a better way of
spending a portion of his money than in our society. The request was
proffered with such graceful entreaty and Louët seemed such a good sort
of young fellow that we did not even think of discussing the question,
but intimated that we should be delighted to have his company; that, as
he proposed, the expenses should be divided into thirds, and the very
next day we would tell him our plan of travel, so that he might then
see if our itinerary suited him. He replied that we need not trouble to
give him such a programme, that he had no settled aim--it was us and
not the journey he wanted--that, since we had honoured him with leave
to accompany us, he would go to China with us, or wherever we wished.
Certainly no one could have been more accommodating and, indeed,
Louët went the entire Italian journey with us and proved himself
throughout an excellent travelling-companion. I related this story in
my _Impressions de voyage_ with the light gaiety of narrative that is
natural to me, and in 1838 I had a visit from Jadin.
"You will never guess who is coming to see you to-morrow ...?" he began.
"I cannot."
"Louët."
"Nonsense!"
I had not seen Louët since my return from Italy three years before.
"Yes," Jadin went on, "and I am sent to announce the visit to you."
"What! is he by any chance coming to ask satisfaction from me for
bringing him into my _Impressions de voyage_?"
"No, quite the reverse; he is delighted to figure in the book and is
coming to ask a favour from you."
"Ah! he will be very welcome. What is it?"
"He wishes to tell you what it is himself."
"Good! I will expect him."
Louët came the next day, and was exactly the same excellent, simple
fellow, except that he seemed to have advanced considerably in the art
of dressing himself.
"Well, Louët, here you are! Why, my friend, you look like a
millionaire."
"Yes, because I am better dressed than formerly; but, otherwise, it is
exactly the reverse. I haven't a halfpenny."
"What? You haven't a halfpenny?"
"No. I risked my little fortune and lost it."
"Absolutely?"
"The whole of it."
"Ah! poor fellow!"
"So I have come to ask ..."
"What? Not for advice how to make a new fortune, surely?"
"No: for your influence."
"With the Government?" I asked, with growing astonishment.
"No."
"The king?" I asked, more surprised still.
"No."
"With the Duc d'Orléans?"
"Yes."
My countenance fell. I desired to keep the revered and loyal friendship
I had vowed to the duke pure from all motives of interest, so that he
might be sure of the genuine nature of my attachment; accordingly,
every time I was asked to obtain some favour from the prince royal it
caused me real pain.
"The Duc d'Orléans!" I repeated. "What in the world do you want me to
ask the Duc d'Orléans on your behalf, my dear Louët?"
"Some small post...."
"A small post!" I repeated, shrugging my shoulders.
"He surely will not refuse you it," Louët added.
"On the contrary, my friend, he will refuse it me, because I shall be
the first to tell him to refuse my request."
"Why?"
"Because you have no sort of claim upon the Duc d'Orléans--you do not
even know him."
"Indeed I have some excuse, I do really know him," said Louët to me. "I
was a college chum of his."
"At Henri IV.?"
"Yes."
"You are certain?"
"Why, of course."
"Would he remember you?"
"I was in the same class with him; besides, if he has forgotten me, I
possess a little note in his own writing that will revive his memory."
"A note from him?"
"Look here: you shall see it for yourself"; and he showed me three
lines on a scrap of foolscap in small handwriting containing these
words:--
"MY DEAR LOUËT,--Translate for me from Ασκρωνδη as far as
ὅλoς, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.
"DE CHARTRES"
I seized the paper eagerly.
"Oh!" I said, "that being the state of things, my dear Louët, you are
saved, and I will answer for everything."
"You will undertake the matter for me, then?"
"With the greatest of pleasure."
"When shall you see the duke?"
"To-morrow morning."
"When shall I come back?"
"To-morrow at noon."
"I shall have my post?"
"I hope so."
"Upon my word, my dear sir, you will have done me an immense service."
"I will do it for you. Go and sleep soundly, without a care. And the
day after to-morrow you will wake up with a salary of twelve hundred
francs."
Louët went away with this pleasant prospect before him, and I wrote to
the prince royal to ask him for an interview next morning. A quarter
of an hour later, I received his assent. I was then lodging at No.
22 rue de Rivoli. My windows were exactly opposite those of the Duc
d'Orléans and he often used to answer by a sign requests such as I had
just addressed to him. Such demands on my part were seldom asked; I
always waited until the prince sent for me, for I knew that the king,
and particularly the queen, looked askance at my visits to their son.
So, next day, when I presented myself to the prince, he said--
"Ah, here you are! Why the deuce are you in such a hurry to see me?"
"Ah, monseigneur, to ask a favour which I am sure you will grant me
with great pleasure."
"For whom, or of what is it about?"
"I do not know, monseigneur, why you are so categorical with me; you
know I am no purist."
"Never mind, it is a good thing to prove that, although prince royal, I
have had a college education."
"Exactly, and it is of one of your college companions, monseigneur, I
have come to speak."
"Is there a single one left, by any chance, without a berth?" he asked.
"Yes, monseigneur; I have discovered him."
"Oh! you! You are capable of discovering any mortal thing."
"Well, monseigneur, since I am the discoverer of the Mediterranean...!"
"Well, what more have you discovered now?"
"I have told you, one of your Royal Highness's college companions."
"What is his name?"
I drew the slip of paper from my pocket, ready for use at the first
opportunity.
"Louët, monseigneur."
The duke uttered a cry.
"Oh! that dunce!" he said.
I looked at him with a smile and made a show of putting the paper back
in my pocket.
"Then, monseigneur," I said, "that alters matters."
"How so?"
"I have nothing further to ask your Highness."
"Why?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, what is that slip of paper which you are putting back into your
pocket and which you are dying to show me?"
"I am still very anxious to show it you, it is true, monseigneur."
"Very well, then, show it me!"
"I dare not."
"Give it me!"
I held out my hand towards the prince and with the greatest submission,
I handed him the paper.
"Good!" he said; "it is sure to be some infernal machine."
"Read it, monseigneur."
The prince cast a glance at the scrap of paper and blushed red to his
eyes.
He blushed very easily, and granting this to be a weakness in him,
it was one he shared in common with the Duc de Nemours and the Duc
d'Aumale.
"Ah! ah!" he said, when he had read it.
Then, looking at me--
"Well, what does that prove?" he said. "That I was a bigger dunce even
than he."
"Monseigneur, you will, in that case, surely, do something to help your
superior?"
"What do you want me to do?"
And at this he went quietly up to the fireplace, rolling the scrap of
paper between his fingers.
"Well, monseigneur, I sincerely hope you will find him a post."
"Where?"
"Near your own person."
"In what capacity?"
"Why, if it were only as a future tutor to your children, he would
translate for them from the Greek for _Aσκρωνδη_ right on to λoς."
"Not that," he said; "but I have an idea."
"Upon my word, it does not surprise me."
Whereat the prince began to laugh.
"Do you think he would learn German?"
"He would learn anything you wanted, monseigneur."
"Very well. I will make him a secretary attached to Madame la Duchesse
d'Orléans; when he knows German, he will translate the letters she
receives from Germany ... that is the only post I have to offer him."
"When will the salary begin?"
"From to-morrow; tell him to call at Asseline's house."
"I thank you, both on his behalf and on mine, monseigneur."
He came nearer and nearer to the fireplace, rolling all the time the
little bit of paper between his fingers. Finally he stretched out his
arm towards the fireplace, but, holding my hand between the paper and
the flames, I said--
"Pardon, monseigneur."
"What do you want?"
"That bit of paper...."
"Why?"
"It is my brokerage."
"What will you do with it?"
"I will have it framed."
"Oh, I know you are quite capable of doing that. Let me burn it."
"Monseigneur, I will hide it in a pocket-book and only show it once a
week."
"Do you promise?"
"On my word of honour!"
"In that case, you can take it, and as you are longing to leave me to
go and tell the good news to your protégé, go along with you."
"Oh, monseigneur, you shall not have the trouble of telling me twice."
"Go, go."
He waved me off with his hand, and I left him.
Poor prince! I have many anecdotes to tell of him like this one; and
I mean to tell them. It was because of his goodness of heart and the
loyalty of his patriotism that he became popular. And, when he died, I
wrote these prophetic words:--
"God has just taken away the only obstacle that exists between the
Monarchy and a Republic."
That is why you died, monseigneur: you were an obstacle: the Republic
was a necessity.
CHAPTER III
The first representation of _Hernani_--The old ace of spades--The
old man has a quarrel--Parodies--Origin of the story of Cabrion
and of Pipelet--Eugène Sue and Desmares--Soulié returns to me--He
offers me fifty of his workmen in the capacity of applauders--First
representation of _Christine_--A supper at my lodgings--Hugo and de
Vigny correct the objectionable lines
_Hernani_ had been returned to Hugo almost without being examined; and
we had not given them time to re-read it, as Taylor wanted to stage
the play before his departure for Egypt. We were asked to hear it read
before the Committee when the actors were present, as the play had been
accepted beforehand.
The reading of _Hernani_ made a profound sensation; nevertheless, I
preferred, and still continue to prefer, _Marion Delorme._
We were in the theatre by two o'clock on the day of the performance.
We knew well enough that the victory achieved by de Vigny was not
far-reaching. It was not of Shakespeare or Goethe or Schiller that
sensible people were doubtful, it was of ourselves. What we wanted was
a theatre that should be national, original, French, and not Greek or
English or German; and this it was our mission to create.
_Henri III._, whether good or bad, was, at least, an original piece of
work, drawn from our own chronicles, wherein traces of the influence
of other theatres could be discerned, but no slavish imitation.
_Marion Delorme_, which could not be got back from the Censorship, and
_Hernani_, which was soon to be played, were both pieces of the same
type. But _Henri III._ was intrinsically a stronger piece of work,
whereas _Hernani_ and _Marion Delorme_ were more remarkable for their
style.
Unluckily, French comedians were rigid in certain of their traditionary
habits: it was usually quite an impossibility to get them to pass
from tragedy to comedy without their making some dreadful slip in
expression or even intonation. We have recounted the anecdote of
Michelet and the four lines with reference to the cupboard scene. We
ought also to mention that, in Hugo's work, comedy and tragedy often
intermingle without any intermediate stages, and that this renders the
interpretation of his thought more difficult than if he had attempted
to set up an ascending or descending scale to bridge over the gulf
between familiarity and grandeur of situation.
The English language, when rhymed, scanned and divided into short or
long syllables, has a great advantage over ours, of which advantage
Shakespeare availed himself to the full: his plays were generally
written in three styles--in prose, in blank verse and in rhymed verses.
Now, the people, the lower classes, talk in prose; the middle classes
in blank verse; and princes and kings in rhyme. Moreover, if the ideas
of the plebeian become exalted as he speaks, Shakespeare puts at his
disposition two ascending styles in which to express his thoughts;
if baser thoughts spring to the lips of kings and princes, he allows
himself the liberty of making use of the language of the common people,
or even of the middle classes, rather than injure that particular
expression of thought. But the public that listens to our work knows
nothing at all of these matters and is quite indifferent to all these
shades of distinction: they merely come to applaud or to hiss; they
applaud or hiss, that is all.
The first performance of _Hernani_ left a unique impression upon
theatrical annals; the suspension of _Marion Delorme_, the talk there
had been about _Hernani_, had excited public curiosity to the highest
pitch, and they were right in looking forward to a stormy night. The
people attacked before they had heard a word, and defended without
understanding what they were defending. When Hernani learns from Ruy
Gomez that he has entrusted his daughter to Charles V., he exclaims--
"... Vieillard stupide, il l'aime!"
M. Parseval de Grandmaison, who was a little deaf, mistook it for
"Vieil as de pique, il l'aime!"
("Old ace of spades, he loves her!")
and, in his unaffected indignation, he could not refrain from shouting
out--
"Oh! but really that is going a little too far!"
"What is going too far, monsieur?" my friend Lassailly inquired, who
was on his left and had heard M. Parseval de Grandmaison's remark, but
had not caught what Firmin said.
"I say, monsieur," the Academician replied, "that it is going a little
too far to call a respectable, worthy old man like Ruy Gomez de Silva,
'old ace of spades'!"
"What! It is too strong an expression?"
"Yes, say what you like, it is not good taste, especially coming from
such a young man as Hernani."
"Monsieur," Lassailly replied, "he had a right to say so. Cards were
invented--they were invented in the time of Charles VI.; Monsieur
l'Académicien, if you are not aware of that fact, I acquaint you with
it. Hurrah for the old ace of spades! Bravo, Firmin! Bravo, Hugo! Ah!"
You can understand how hopeless it was to attempt to reply to people
who attacked and defended in this fashion.
_Hernani_ met with great success, although it was more strongly
contested than _Henri III._ It is simple enough to find the reason for
this: beauties of form and style are least readily appreciated by the
vulgar mind, and these were Hugo's particular charms. On the other
hand, these beautiful touches, being purely artistic, made a great
impression on us, and on me in particular.
_Hernani_ received all the tributes customary to triumph: it was
outrageously attacked, and defended with equal violence; it was
parodied with a clever astuteness directed against the traditionary
dramatic customs, under the title of _Arnali, ou la Contrainte par
Cor_ (Arnali, or Constraint by Acclamation), a French work translated
from the Gothic. And with regard to parodies,--let us make note of a
historical fact, the date of which might else be lost in the mists of
time, if we did not jot it down here.
The story--for such it is--of Cabrion and of M. Pipelet goes back to
the month of March 1829. This is what happened, and it caused so much
uneasiness to the porters of Paris that they have remained a melancholy
race ever since!
_Henri III._, foreordained to meet with a great success, or at any rate
to make a sensation, had also to have its parody; to facilitate the
execution of this important work, I had sent my manuscript in advance
to de Leuven and Rousseau; then, at their request, I had worked with
them at the piece to the best of my ability, and we called it _Le Roi
Dagobert et sa Cour._ But the Censorship regarded this title as lacking
in respect to the descendant of Dagobert. The descendant of Dagobert,
that worthy company which bears, for arms, scissors sable upon a field
argent, meant His Majesty Charles X. It confused descendant with
successor, but gentlemen on committees of examination are known to be
above the consideration of such a mere trifle as that. So we altered
the title to that of _La Cour du roi Pétaud_, to which the Censorship
raised no objection. Just as if nobody were descended from le roi
Pétaud!
So the parody of _Henri III. et sa Cour_ was played at the Vaudeville
under this title. It parodied the play, scene for scene. Now, at the
conclusion of the fourth act, the farewell scene between Saint-Mégrin
and his servant was parodied by one between the hero of the parody
(unfortunately I have forgotten his name) and his porter. In this
extremely tender, touching and sentimental scene, the hero asks the
porter for a lock of his hair to the tune of _Dormez donc; mes chères
amours!_ which was all the rage just then, and most appropriate to the
situation. On the night of the performance everybody went away singing
the refrain and the words of the song. Three or four days afterwards,
a party of us were dining at Véfours, including de Leuven, Eugène Sue,
Desforges, Desmares, Rousseau, several others and myself. At the end
of the dinner, which had been exceedingly lively, we sang the famous
refrain in chorus:--
"Portier, je veux
De tes cheveux!"
Eugène Sue and Desmares decided to carry into effect this flight
of our imagination and, as they entered the house, No. 8 rue de la
Chaussée-d'Antin, where Eugène Sue knew the name of the concierge,
they asked the good man if his name were not M. Pipelet. He answered
in the affirmative. Then, in the name of a Polish princess who had
seen him and fallen desperately in love with him, they asked, with
many entreaties, for a lock of his hair, and, to get rid of them, the
poor Pipelet ended by giving it them. He was a lost man, after he had
committed such a weakness! That same evening three other requests were
addressed to him on behalf of a Russian princess, a German baroness and
an Italian marchioness; and, every time the request was put to him, an
invisible choir sang under the great doorway--
"Portier, je veux
De tes cheveux!"
The joke was continued the next day; we sent everybody we knew to ask
Master Pipelet for a lock of his hair, so that he eventually only
answered the bell with horror, whilst to no purpose whatever did he
remove from his door the traditional notice--
_Address yourself to the Porter._
On the following Sunday, Eugène Sue and Desmares decided to give the
poor devil a serenade on a grand scale: they entered the courtyard
on horseback, with guitars in their hands, and began singing the
persecuting air. But, as we said, it was Sunday, and, the householders
being away in the country, the porter quite expected they would try
to embitter his Sabbath as on other days, not allowing him the rest
God had conceded to Himself. Having informed every servant throughout
the house, he slipped behind the singers, shut the street door and
made a pre-arranged signal, whereupon five or six servants ran to his
assistance, and the troubadours were compelled to turn their musical
instruments into weapons of defence: they came away with nothing but
the necks of their guitars in their hands. Nobody ever knew the details
of this fight, which must have been a terrible one; the combatants
kept it to themselves; but it was known to have happened; and the
porter of the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin was voted a literary outlaw.
From that moment the wretched man's life became a premature hell
to him: even his night's rest was not respected; for every belated
littérateur had to take an oath to return home by way of the rue de la
Chaussée-d'Antin, were he living even at the Barrière du Maine. The
persecution endured for over three months; at the end of that time a
new face appeared to answer the accustomed demand: Pipelet's wife came
weeping to the grating to say that her husband had fallen a victim to
this persecution and had been carried off to a hospital with an attack
of brain fever. The unlucky man was in a delirium and, in his raving,
repeated incessantly, over and over again, the refrain that had cost
him his reason and his health. This, then, is the real truth about the
celebrated persecution of the Pipelets, which made a great sensation
during the years 1829 to 1830.
Now let us return to _Christine._ When the play was returned from the
Censorship it was rehearsed with a will. Romanticism, which had taken
possession of the Théâtre-Français, had just spread to the other side
of the Seine and had turned aside from the Academy--as in the case
of a fortress which a great general scorns to attack at a time of
invasion--and threatened to carry the Odéon by assault.
It was creating quite a revolution in the Latin quarter. Further, in
order to give more effect to the next performance, Harel constantly
suspended the play--a means of advertisement and a way of publishing
hitherto quite unknown.
On the morning of the general rehearsal I received a line from Soulié;
it was, with the exception of the slight correspondence previously
mentioned and the sending of places for _Roméo et Juliette_, the only
sign of his existence he had given me for a year. He asked me for a
pass for this rehearsal. I sent him at once a pass for himself and any
of his friends who might wish to accompany him. The rehearsal took
place the same night. Now, in those days, general rehearsals were
actual performances of the play as it would be presented finally.
Friends were not yet sick of it, success had not made them indifferent
or jealous, and there really seemed to be a general interest taken in
the outcome of some of them. The cause we were upholding was that of
every obscure aspirant who hoped to become famous some day; and they
would share a good deal of the influence acquired by us, in order to
make their path more sure and brilliant. Egotism made them devotees. So
the general rehearsal of _Christine_ was an enthusiastic success.
I left the orchestra after the fifth act, and went to pay my respects
to Soulié. He was greatly moved and held out his arms to me. I embraced
him with deep emotion; it had distressed me to be on cool terms with
a man whom I loved and whose talent I admired more than others did,
because, better than others, I appreciated that talent.
"Ah!" said he, "you were certainly well advised in writing your
_Christine_ alone. It is an admirable piece of work, but parts of it
suffer as regards composition; that will come. Some day you will be our
leading dramatist, and we your humble servants."
"Come now, my dear friend," I said, "you must be mad to say such
things!"
"Not so; I mean what I say, upon my honour. To tell you that it gives
me immense pleasure would be going too far; you would not believe me,
but nevertheless it is so."
I thanked him.
"Look here," he said, "let us talk seriously: I know there is a plot
organised against your play and that they are going to make it hot for
you to-morrow night."
"Oh, I felt certain of it."
"Have you fifty places left in the pit?"
"Yes."
"Then let me have them and I will bring all my workmen from the
sawmill, and we will back you up against them, never fear!"
I gave him a packet of tickets without counting them, and, as they were
waiting for me on the stage, I again embraced him and we parted.
I think this man possessed certain brotherly and trusting qualities
which one looks for in vain in theatrical circles: he who had been
hissed three or four months previously in the same theatre, and under
similar circumstances, now asked his rival for fifty places, in order
to back up a play the success of which would but intensify the failure
of his own, and from a rival who, with lavish generosity, gave him at
once, without the slightest hesitation or misgivings, a pile of tickets
quite sufficient in number to ruin the best play in the world if they
fell into the wrong hands. We were, probably, rather absurd figures,
but we were unquestionably well-meaning.
As no delay had been considered necessary, the play was performed the
next day.
Frédéric had told me the truth. There had been organised by someone--by
whom I had not the slightest idea, perhaps spontaneously and without
any other incentive than the hatred borne towards us--the roughest sort
of opposition I ever witnessed. As usual, I was present in a box at my
first night, so I lost none of the incidents of that terrible battle
which raged for seven hours; during which the play was knocked down
a dozen times and always rose up again, ending at two in the morning
by forcing the panting, horrified and scared public to go down on its
knees.
Oh! I repeat it with an enthusiasm that has not diminished after
twenty-five years of fighting, and in spite of my fifty or more
triumphant successes, the contest between the genius of man and the
ill-will of the crowd, the vulgarity of the audience, the hatred
of enemies, is a grand and splendid spectacle. There is an immense
satisfaction in dramatic quarters in feeling the opposition forced down
on its knees and slowly made to bite the dust in utter defeat. Oh! what
pride would victory produce, if it were not that, amongst honest men,
it is a cure for vanity!
It is quite impossible to give any idea of the effect that the arrest
of Monaldeschi produced on the audience, after the monologue of
Sentinelli at the window, which had been hooted at. The whole theatre
burst into roars of applause, and when, in the fifth act, Monaldeschi,
saved by the love of Christine, sends the poisoned ring to Paula,
there were furious outcries against the cowardly assassin, which were
turned into frantic cheers when they saw him drag himself, wounded and
bleeding, to the feet of the queen, who, in spite of his supplications
and prayers, gives utterance to this line, which Picard had pronounced
_impossible_--
"Eh bien, j'en ai pitié, mon père.--Qu'on l'achève!"
At last the whole audience was won over and the success of the play was
assured. The epilogue, which was calm, and cold, and grandiose, a kind
of vast cavern with damp floors and I dank vaults, where I buried the
bodies of my characters, detracted from its successful acceptation.
Those guilty souls with blanched heads and dead affections, meeting one
another again after thirty years' separation, the one without hatred
and the other without love, gazing in wonder at each other and asking
forgiveness for the crime they had perpetrated, presented a succession
of scenes that were more philosophic and religious in spirit than
dramatic in art. Confronted with my own work, I recognised my mistake;
but, having erred, I must atone; so I cut out the epilogue, which was
really the best piece in the whole work, as regards style, although far
from being perfect. Let us hasten to say that the rest was not very
striking; it was written in imitation of a language in which I had
then only just begun to stammer, in faltering accents.
I had not lost sight of Soulié during the performance: he and his fifty
men were there. Even if I had put a mask over my face, I should not
have dared to do what he had done for the success of my play!
Oh! dear and loyal-hearted friend! Known to and appreciated by few, I,
who did know and appreciate you during your lifetime, and defended you
after your death, I still extol your virtues!
But to conclude my story: the whole of the audience left the theatre
without a single soul being able to tell whether _Christine_ was a
success or a failure.
I had a supper-party afterwards, for any of my friends who liked to
come. If we were not fully triumphant at the victory, we were, at all
events, excited by the fight. There were about twenty-five of us to
supper--Hugo, de Vigny, Paul Lacroix, Boulanger, Achille Comte, Planche
(Planche, who had not yet been bitten by the dog of hatred, and who
only later showed an inclination to madness), Cordelier-Delanoue,
Théodore Villenave--and I know not who besides, of the noisy youthful
crew full of life and activity that surrounded us at that time; all the
volunteers belonging to that great war of invasion, which was not in
reality as terrible as it pronounced itself to be, and, after all, only
threatened to capture Vienna in order to obtain possession of the Rhine
frontiers.
Now listen to what happened: the event I am going to relate was almost
a duplicate of the episode in connection with Soulié; and I will answer
for it as being unique in the annals of literature.
There were some hundred lines in my play which had to be altered, and
which, to make use of an expressive vulgarism, had been _empoignés_
(seized upon) at the first night's performance; they were to be held
up to hostile criticism, for they would not fail to be dropped on
afresh at the next performance; besides some dozen cuts which had to be
made and dressed by skilful and by fatherly hands; this needed doing
immediately, that very night, so that the manuscript could be sent
back the next morning for the alterations to be made at noon, and the
piece acted that same night. Now it was out of the question that I, who
had twenty-five guests to entertain, could do it. But Hugo and de Vigny
took the manuscript, and, telling me to set my mind at rest, they shut
themselves up in a small room, and, whilst the rest of us were eating
and drinking and singing, they worked. They toiled for four consecutive
hours with the same conscientious energy they would have employed upon
their own work; and when they came out at daybreak, finding us all gone
to bed and asleep, they left the manuscript, ready for the performance,
on the mantelpiece, and, without waking anybody, these two rivals went
off arm in arm, like two brothers!
Do you remember that, dear Hugo? Do you recollect that, de Vigny?
We were roused from our lethargic condition next morning by the
bookseller Barba, who came to offer me twelve thousand francs for the
manuscript of _Christine_--that is to say, double the sum for which I
had sold _Henri III._ It was, then, unquestionably a success!
CHAPTER IV
A passing cab--Madame Dorval in the _Incendiaire_--Two
actresses--The Duc d'Orléans asks for the Cross of the
Legion of Honour on my behalf--His recommendation has no
effect--M. Empis--Madame Lafond's Salon--My costume as
Arnaute--Madame Malibran--Brothers and sisters in Art
The day after, or rather the evening of the second day after my first
representation, I was crossing the place de l'Odéon at one o'clock in
the morning, passing from the lighted theatre into the darkness of
the street, and from the noise of the applause of a crowded house to
the silence of an empty square, from intoxication to reflection, from
reality to dreams, when a woman's head appeared at the door of a cab
calling me by name. I turned round, the cab pulled up and I opened the
door.
"Are you M. Dumas?" the person inside inquired.
"Yes, madame."
"Very well, come inside and kiss me. Ah! you possess marvellous talent,
and you don't draw women badly either!"
It made me laugh, and I kissed the fair speaker. She who spoke thus to
me was Dorval--Dorval to whom I could have retorted in the same words--
"You have marvellous talent, and you take off women rather well."
The fact is that since we had seen Dorval act Malvina in the _Vampire_
she had improved immensely. In the _Incendiaire_, especially, she had
been perfectly magnificent. Those who read these lines now will not
know what the play was: I can only recollect a priest's part, which
Bocage played excellently well, and a confession scene in which Dorval
was sublime. Picture to yourselves a young girl who has had a torch
put into her hands; how, or by what means, I no longer remember, but
no matter; besides, that was twenty-two or twenty-three years ago,
and I have forgotten the drama and, I repeat, I can only recollect
the actress. She acted the confession scene, referred to above, on
her knees: it lasted a whole quarter of an hour, during which space
of time one held one's breath or only breathed in weeping. One night
Madame Dorval was more beautiful, more tender and more pathetic than
ever: and I will tell you why. You will have seen pictures by Ruysdael
and Hobbema, and will recall how rays of sunlight stray across their
landscapes, lighting up a corner of the grey sky, and illuminating the
misty atmosphere, where the great oxen graze in the tall grass. Well,
then, listen to this. When the player is fatigued, having played the
same part over from ten to fifty times, inspiration gradually dies down
and genius slumbers and emotion gets deadened; the actor's sky grows
grey and his atmosphere clouded, and he searches for rays of sunshine
like those that illumine the canvases of Hobbema or Ruysdael. The sight
of a friend among the spectators, a talented fellow-artist leaning
over the dress-circle, is, to him, as a ray of sunlight; a thoughtful
face with eyes shining in the dim light of a box. Then communication
is established between the house and the stage; the electric current
is perceived and, thanks to it, the player returns to the days of the
earliest performances; all the slumbering chords awake, and suddenly
weep, mourn and sob more quiveringly than ever; the public applauds
and shouts bravo, and thinks that it is for it the player works
these wonders. Poor deluded public! It is towards some kindred soul,
unsuspected by you, that all this effort, those cries and tears are
directed! You simply get the benefit of it as from dew or light or
flame. But, after all, what matters it to you who pours the dew down,
who spreads this light, who lights this flame, since in this dew and
light and flame you refresh and light and warm yourself? So, one night,
Dorval had surpassed herself--for whom? She had not the slightest
idea. It was for a woman in the audience--a woman who for three hours
had kept her spellbound beneath her eagle glance; for three hours
Dorval saw none of the other people in the house, she wept and talked
and lived and, in a word, acted for that one woman alone: when she
applauded and cried "Bravo!" the actress had been paid for her labour,
rewarded for her pains and compensated for her talent! She had said to
herself, "I am satisfied since she is." Then the curtain had fallen
and, breathless, crushed, almost dead from exhaustion, like a pythoness
when removed from her tripod, Dorval went to her room; from victress
she became victim, and fell half fainting upon her couch. Suddenly the
door of her dressing-room opened, and the unknown woman appeared on the
threshold. Dorval sprang up trembling and took her by both hands as
though she were a friend. For a few minutes the two women looked at one
another in silence, smiling, with tears in their eyes.
"Forgive me, madame," the unknown said, with incredible sweetness of
voice; "but I could not return home without telling you of the joy, the
emotion, the happiness I owe to you. Oh! it was wonderful, sublime,
exquisite!"
Dorval looked at her and thanked her with her eyes, and an inclination
of her head and a motion of the shoulders peculiarly her own, all
the while interrogating her, inquiring with every muscle of her
countenance--
"But who in the world are you, madame? Who are you?"
The unknown guessed her thoughts, and replied--only those who had heard
that wonderful siren speak can conceive the sweetness of her tones--
"I am Madame Malibran."
Dorval uttered a cry and pointed to the only picture which adorned her
room. It was a portrait of Madame Malibran as Desdemona. Henceforth
Madame Dorval possessed one of the two things she had hitherto lacked
before she could become a woman of the highest merit: a friend who
would be true to her but, at the same time, discriminating; and such a
friendship Madame Malibran offered her. Now that she had her portion
of friendship, it rested with Providence to bestow upon her that of
love.
After Madame Dorval had played the parts of Adèle d'Hervey and Marion
Delorme, she played Kitty Bell; by that time she had developed into a
most accomplished woman and a consummate actress. Dorval's exclamation
when she stopped me near the Odéon, and the artistic freemasonry she
frankly sealed with a fraternal kiss, made me very happy! For pride to
be satisfied, praise must come from a higher source or, at the very
least, from as high a one as that of the recipient. For the praise that
comes from above is ambrosial, that from below is but incense.
One day, Michelet wrote to me (I had never either seen or spoken with
him previously).
"Monsieur," he said, "I like and admire you; you are one of the forces
of nature."
This letter gave me keener and more real pleasure than if I had
received the news that the grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur had been
bestowed upon me. Mention of the Légion d'honneur suggests a few words
relative to the sensation caused by the successes of both _Henri III._
and _Christine._
_Christine_ had been played on 20 February, and on 9 March, very
probably at the request of the Duc de Chartres, who had been present,
at his own desire, at the first representation, the Duc d'Orléans wrote
as follows to M. Sosthène de la Rochefoucauld:--
"PALAIS-ROYAL, 9 _March_ 1830
"I hear, monsieur, that you intend to submit to the King the
suggestion of granting the Cross of the Légion d'honneur to
M. Alexandre Dumas, when the season comes round at which he
usually grants promotions to that order.
"M. Alexandre Dumas' success as a dramatist, indeed, seems
to me to deserve such a mark of esteem, and I shall be the
more pleased for him to get it, since he has been attached
to my secretarial staff and in my forestry department for
the past six years, during which time he has supported his
family in a most praiseworthy way. I am told he intends to
travel in the north of Europe, and that he sets great store
by the nomination taking place before his departure. I do
not know whether 12 April would be a suitable occasion on
which to submit the proposition to the King; but I wish to
suggest the idea to you, as a token of the interest I take
in M. Dumas.
"Allow me to take advantage of this opportunity to offer
you the assurance of my sincere regard for you.--Yours
affectionately, LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS"
One day, when I was in the library, M. le Duc de Orléans came in with a
letter in his hand. I had risen at his entrance and remained standing
as he advanced towards me.
"Look here, Monsieur Dumas," he said, "this is what has been asked on
your behalf. Read it."
Intensely astonished, I read the letter I have just transcribed above.
I knew that M. Sosthène de la Rochefoucauld, who was very friendly
towards me, had been urged by Beauchesne to send my name in to M. de la
Bouillerie's office; but it was far enough from my thoughts that the
Duc d'Orléans would ever consent to recommend me himself. I blushed
excessively, stammered out a few words of thanks and asked him to whom
I owed the good fortune of being recommended by him.
"To a friend," he replied, and that was all I could extract from him.
Unfortunately, the duke's recommendation was of no avail. I have
since been informed that it was M. Empis, head clerk of the king's
household, who frustrated the kind intention of the prince and of
M. de la Rochefoucauld. M. Empis belonged to an entirely opposite
school of literature from mine; he had written a very remarkable play
called _La Mère et la Fille_, the leading part in which was created
by Frédérick Lemaître, upon his first appearance at the Odéon, and
the piece was extraordinarily successful. I said above "Unfortunately
the duke's recommendation was of no avail." Let us explain the word
_unfortunately._ Unfortunate it was, indeed; for at that time the Cross
of the Légion d'honneur had not been bestowed broadcast, and it would
have been a rich prize had I obtained it. I was young and full of hope
and vigour and enthusiasm; I was just on the threshold of my career;
and therefore the fact of my nomination would have given me very great
delight. But it is among the misfortunes of those who have the power of
giving such honours that they never know how to give them in time; this
cross, that the Duc d'Orléans asked for me in 1830, King Louis-Philippe
only gave me in 1836, at the Fêtes of Versailles; even then it was
not he himself but the prince royal who gave it me, upon the occasion
of his marriage, when the orders at his disposal were one grand'croix
and two croix d'Officier and one croix de Chevalier. The grand'croix
was for François Arago; the two "croix d'Officier" were for Augustin
Thierry and Victor Hugo; the croix de Chevalier was for me.
Having reached this period of my life, I will tell all the stories
connected with this order, and how M. de Salvandy, so that he might
be forgiven for presenting the croix d'Officier to Hugo and the croix
de Chevalier to me, felt obliged to give one at the same time to an
excellent fellow, whose name was so totally unknown as to preserve, by
its very obscurity, the celebrity of our own. The result was that I put
my cross inside my pocket, instead of pinning it in my buttonhole.
And this reminds me of the story of the father of one of my literary
confrères, a wealthy cotton merchant, who, having received the cross,
because he had lent Charles X. two million francs, only wore the ribbon
in the buttonhole of his fob. Thus I had, for the time being, to
deprive myself of the red ribbon. I was angry at first with M. Empis
for having defeated my pretty dream, but far more angry with him later
for having written _Julie, ou la Réparation_!
However, we managed to find endless diversions during that happy winter
of 1830, severe though it was. It is a remarkable fact that revolutions
almost always surprise people in the midst of dances, and kings in
the midst of fireworks. There were, too, any number of masked balls.
There was a Salon held in Paris in those days by Madame Lafond, which
was entirely comprised of artistic society. Madame Lafond was, at that
date, a woman of between thirty-six and thirty-eight years of age, in
the zenith of her beauty, which was that of a brunette, and she was
admirably preserved: she had dark speaking eyes and black wavy hair,
add to these charms a most bewitching smile, the most graceful hands
imaginable, and an intellect that was remarkable both for its power
and its kindliness, and you will still only have a very imperfect
impression of the mistress of that Salon. Her husband was the musician
Lafond, who was a talented violin player: he was small and fair, and
supported his wife to perfection at her soirées, playing the same part
Prince Albert plays at the Court of Queen Victoria. I believe he was
killed by a carriage accident. He had two sons a great deal younger
than I, who still wore little round jackets and turned-down collars,
and were sent to bed at eight o'clock. They have grown up into two
delightful young fellows, whom I have since met at various Embassies.
In those days, neither the costume of pierrots nor that of dock
labourers had become the fashionable rage; Chicard and Gavarni were
still hidden in the dark depths of the future; and the Opera ballet had
not emerged from the traditional domino in which it would have been
a difficult matter to thread those mad galops, to the sound of that
terrible music, which won Musard the nickname of "the Napoleon of the
Cancan." The real cancan, which was a capital national dance, the only
one which possessed the elements of spontaneity and of the picturesque,
was consigned to the outskirts of civilisation, with other contraband
goods proscribed by custom.
Now, the choice of a suitable costume was a very serious business to an
author of twenty-six, who had already begun to possess the reputation,
whether erroneously or not, of being quite an Othello. I had made the
acquaintance at Firmin's balls--I do not know why I have never yet
spoken of those delightful réunions of his, where one was sure to find,
without powder or paint, the youngest and prettiest faces in Paris--of
a clever young fellow, a pupil of M. Ingres, and who has since become
the celebrated antiquary Amaury Duval. He had just returned from
Greece, where he had taken part in an artistic expedition that had
been sent to the land of Pericles, after the battle of Navarino. He
appeared at one of Firmin's balls in the disguise of a Pallikar. The
Pallikar was all the rage then; Byron had introduced, it, and all our
pretty women had collected funds for that mother of lovely women, the
land of Greece. From this time I became great friends with Amaury and,
later, I gave his name to one of my romances, in remembrance of our
youthful friendship; or, rather, let us say, of the friendship of our
youth. He proclaimed himself a fanatical partisan of my works, and he
it was, it will be recollected, son and nephew of an Academician, who
was said to have demanded the heads of the members of the Academy,
after the first representation of _Henri III._ So I went and hunted him
up, for it was most important at a fancy dress ball to make the most of
one's natural advantages. I have said that I never was good-looking,
but I was tall and well built, although rather slight; my face was
thin, and I had large brown eyes, with a dark complexion; in a word,
if it was impossible to create beauty, it was easy enough to form
character. So we decided that the dress of an Albanian would suit me
exactly; and Amaury accordingly designed me a costume. Now, the turban
was the most striking part of this costume, and, being rolled two or
three times round the head, it passed round the neck and was tied at
the point it started from. But the costume had to be made, and, as it
was covered with embroidery and braid and lace, it took a fortnight to
make.
At last, the evening arrived, and the dress was finished by eleven
o'clock; by midnight I entered Madame Lafond's house. This costume of
mine was then almost unknown in France: the jacket and leggings were of
red velvet, embroidered with gold; the _fustanelle_, as white as snow,
had not been robbed of a single inch of its proper width; the dazzling
silver arms were marvellously wrought, and, above all, the originality
of the head-dress drew all eyes upon me. I guessed I should make a
triumphant sensation, but had no idea of the method in which it would
be expressed. I had not taken ten steps into the room before a young
woman, clad as a Roman priestess, crowned with verbena and cypress,
made her apologies to her partner and left him to come to me. She then
led me apart into a small boudoir and, making me sit down, remained
standing in front of me and said--
"Now, Monsieur Dumas, you are going to teach me how to put on a turban
like that; to-morrow I am acting Desdemona with Zucchelli and you know
how those Italian devils array themselves; I should, at any rate, like
him to have a head-dress like yours, it would work me up!"
The Roman priestess was Madame Malibran, of whom I shall soon have much
more to say and of whom I have already spoken twice in connection with
the first representation of _Henri III._, where she hung over the edge
of her box on the third tier throughout the fifth act; and also in
connection with Dorval, into whose arms she ran to fling herself after
a representation of _l'Incendiaire._ Yes, it was Madame Malibran, the
incomparable artist, who alone, perhaps, of all artists, wedded the
drama to song, strength to grace, joy to sadness, to a degree no one
has ever attained. Alas! she too died young, and is now but a shadow on
our horizon! Shade of Desdemona and of Rosine, of la Somnambule and of
Norma, a dazzling, harmonious, melancholy shadow! that those who saw
the living reality can still revive by the aid of memory, but who is
merely a phantom for those who saw her not! She died when still young,
but thereby she, at any rate, carried away with her into the tomb all
the advantages that are to be derived from premature death; she died
beautiful, loving and beloved, at the zenith of her triumph, girt with
glory, crowned with laurels and enshrouded in fame! But theatrical
artists leave nothing that can be transmitted to posterity, no traces
of the purity of their singing, the grace of their movements or the
passion of their gestures--nothing but a reflection which remains
in the memory of their contemporaries. It therefore remains for us,
painters or poets, who do leave something behind us after we have
gone; to us, privileged children of Art, who possess the faculty of
reproducing the form or the spirit of material and perishable things
through the medium of our brushes and pens; to whom God has given a
mirror for a soul, which remembers instead of forgets; it rests with us
to make you live again, O brothers and sisters! to depict you as you
were, and, if possible, to reflect your images even greater and more
beautiful than they were in life!
Did my readers think when I began these volumes that my aim was merely
egotistic, for the purpose of talking everlastingly of myself? No,
indeed; I meant it to serve for a huge frame in which to depict all
my brethren in Art, fathers or children of my century, the great
spirits and charming personalities, whose hands, cheeks and lips I have
pressed; those who have loved me, and whom I have loved; those who have
been, or who still are, the ornament of our times; including those I
may never have known, and those even who have detested me! The _Memoirs
of Alexandre Dumas_--why, it would be absurd! What could I have become
alone, as an isolated individual, a lost atom, a speck of dust amidst
so many whirlwinds Simply nothing. But by associating myself with you,
by pressing with my left hand the right hand of an artist, with my
right hand the left hand of a prince, I became a link in the golden
chain which connects the past with the future. No, I am not writing
my own Memoirs, but those of all I have known; and as I have come in
contact with the greatest and most illustrious people in France, it is
really Memoirs of France I am writing.
I spent the best part of the night teaching Madame Malibran how to put
on an Albanian turban, and the next day Zucchelli played Othello in
a head-dress similar to the one I had worn on the previous evening.
Madame Malibran was quite right. Othello's coiffure had its effect, for
she had never been greater or more sublimely beautiful!
Farewell, Marie! Her name too was Marie, in common with Marie Dorval
and Marie Pleyel--_au revoir!_ I shall meet you again at Naples!
CHAPTER V
Why the Duc d'Orléans' recommendation on the subject
of my croix d'honneur failed--The indemnity of a
milliard--La Fayette's journey to Auvergne--His reception
at Grenoble, Vizille and at Lyons--Charles X.'s journey to
Alsace--Varennes and Nancy--Opening of the Chambers--The
royal speech and the Address of the 221--Article 14--The
conquest of Algiers and the recapture of our Rhine frontiers
Let us turn from an artistic to an aristocratic evening party, one
which made quite a different sensation! I refer to the famous soirée
at the Palais-Royal given, on 31 May 1830, by the Duc d'Orléans to his
brother-in-law, the King of Naples. But first let us return to matters
a little farther back.
Why did the recommendation of the Duc d'Orléans in the matter of
obtaining a croix d'honneur for me carry so little weight? It was
because, as his popularity grew day by day, so, in proportion, did his
credit wane at the Tuileries. Because, daily growing emboldened and
weighing in his mind the question he meant to put, so he has since
told me, to a council and not to a prince of the blood, he let slip
expressions against the Court which showed too open an opposition to
its methods. Because, since M. de Polignac had been made a minister,
since the occasion of the famous audience given to Victor Hugo when
he was received by the king at Saint-Cloud, everybody was expecting a
fresh revolution to break out. A revolution must have been universally
expected, since I, in my own small turn, had replied to M. de
Lourdoueix in the famous phrase "I will wait" (_j'attendrai_), and, had
I waited, the matter would only have been postponed for six months.
On 2 March the Chamber re-opened. The king was present at the sitting,
his mind made up for a revolutionary measure. Now a thousand things
determined Charles X. upon taking such a course: his own travels in
Alsace, M. de La Fayette's in the Auvergne, and other events that we
will record in their proper places. General La Fayette, having gained
possession of his indemnity money as a Royalist émigré, had made up his
mind to travel through Auvergne as a Republican. In fact, the milliard
of indemnity had just been distributed; and, strange to say, it was
found to enrich more Liberals than Royalists. The Duc d'Orléans, for
instance, received 16,000,000 francs. The Duc de Liancourt received
1,400,000 francs as his share. The Duc de Choiseul, 1,100,000 francs.
General La Fayette, 456,182 francs. M. Gaëtan de La Rochefoucauld,
428,206 francs. M. Thiers, 357,850 francs. And lastly, M. Charles de
Lameth, 201,696 francs.
Well, General La Fayette set out for Auvergne. General La Fayette,
whom I knew intimately, and who was quite friendly in his inclinations
towards myself, whom I hope to describe in his proper turn in the
course of these Memoirs, without allowing the respectful homage of a
young man and the sympathy of the friend to injure the impartiality
of the historian--General La Fayette, I say, was born in 1757, at
Chavagnac, near Brioude, and, some day before the close of the session
of 1829, he had set out to visit the ancient land of the Arvernese.
He had yielded to the wish of seeing his native land once more, a
desire which moves our souls with such profound memories that it draws
us to it throughout our whole life, and it is a remarkable fact that
this attraction grows stronger as we near death, as though nature had
implanted an imperious wish in man's heart to seek his burial-place
near the spot where he was born. Now, General La Fayette was welcomed
throughout that tour with joy and affection and respect, but without
fanaticism. Banquets had been given him at Issoire and Clermont and
Brioude; but none of them had had any sort of political significance
until then: they were simply meetings of fellow-citizens, celebrating
the return of one of their members, and nothing more. Suddenly, the
news of a change of government became known, and the accession of M.
de Polignac to power.
From the very moment that the news of the change of government arrived,
La Fayette's journey assumed a different complexion: it bore the aspect
of an influential protest, and an almost religious hopefulness of tone.
The general was at Puy--a remarkable coincidence--in the same town
where the ancestors of M. de Polignac had formerly held sway, when, a
couple of hours before the banquet took place that was being prepared
in his honour, the people heard of the formation of the Ministry of 8
August; immediately they rallied excitedly round the famous traveller,
pressing up to him with shouts of "Vive La Fayette!" and, at the
repast, two hours later, the following pretty revolutionary toast was
drunk:--
"The Chambre des députés, the _one and only hope_ of France!"
The general intended to go to Vizille to see his granddaughter, wife
of Augustin Périer, who lived in a château built in olden times by the
Constable of Lesdiguières, an ancient feudal manor house, which was
later turned into a factory and workshop. To go to Vizille--a historic
town whose Government, with that of Bretagne, in 1788 was the first to
offer opposition to the royal decrees--he had to pass through Grenoble.
Moreover, pass through it he would; the general was just the man to
go two or three leagues out of his way in order to cull the flower
of popularity, which quickly fades and which, after forty years, was
springing up as fresh the second time as the first.
Grenoble is a great town for dissension: nowhere have the seeds of
liberty produced more luxuriant crops than in this unsubmissive city,
which, in 1815, out of reverence for Napoleon, burst the gates that
would not open to him; which, in 1816, witnessed the guillotining
of Didier, Drevet and Buisson, and the shooting down of twenty-two
conspirators, including an old man of sixty-five and a child of
fifteen! A couple of score of young men on horseback and several
carriages came out to greet the general; they met him a league away
from the town to form an escort; then at the gate of France the former
mayor, deprived of his office, probably through the many political
reactions of the times, awaited him, to present him with a crown of
silver oak leaves. This wreath--_a token of the love and gratitude
of the people_--was the outcome of a subscription at fifty centimes
a head. At Vizille they outdid even this: they fired cannon. On 5
September it was the turn of Lyons to show the general sympathy by
means of a reception that was quite an ovation in itself. A deputation
was even appointed to receive him at the borders of the department of
the Rhône; it was escorted by a troop of five hundred horsemen, by a
thousand young folk on foot and by sixty carriages occupied by the
leading merchants of the town. In the midst of these carriages came
an empty barouche, drawn by four horses, which was intended for the
general's use.
At the gate of the city the general was harangued by a former lawyer.
We do not recollect the speech, except that it was ultra Liberal in
tone, but we recall a few words of the reply from him to whom it was
addressed. "To-day," the general replied, "after a long diversion of
brilliant patriotism and of constitutional hopes, I once again find
myself in your midst at what I should consider a critical moment, had I
not observed everywhere during my journeyings, as also in this powerful
city, the calm and even contemptuous steadfastness of a great people,
which is aware of its rights, conscious of its strength and will remain
faithful to its duties!"
This utterance, ten months beforehand, was prophetic of the Bretonne
Association, the refusal of tax-paying and the Revolution of July.
The general's account of his travels was printed, and a hundred
thousand copies of it were sold. "Those whom God would ruin He first
deprives of reason." The Monarchy had, indeed, gone mad! A most
influential paper, a monarchical one, published an article on this
journey, of which the following few lines may serve as a specimen:--
"General La Fayette's journey is a revolutionary orgy, which
is not so much the result of patriotic enthusiasm as of
various combinations of party spirit. The Comité directeur
and Masonic Lodges called them together, these parties being
desirous of fêting the Revolution, in the person of the
general, who, since 1789, has preached and defended similar
principles in short, it is the actual Revolution elevated to
high places."
It is now necessary for us to say a few words about the tour of Charles
X. in Alsace; it will balance that of General La Fayette. Besides, any
events that lead up to great catastrophes in history are of peculiar
interest. Contrary to that of La Fayette, who, as we have seen, had
excited the enthusiasm of the people wherever he went, the king's
journey, following the usual custom of princely journeys, had only
displayed an official and factitious loyalty, spread over the real
hatred below, as the folds of a beautiful cloth cover up a worm-eaten
table. It may be said to have done far more, it had brought to light
some of those sinister omens which foretell great disasters. They
had passed through Varennes (and one asks by what unlucky chance or
forgetfulness had that town, fatal to the cause of monarchy, been
chosen for the king's route?), and at Varennes they stopped to change
horses, at the head of the bridge, at the entrance of the archway,
exactly at the same spot where Louis XVI., the Queen, Madame Élisabeth,
the Children of France and their governess, Madame de Tourzel, had been
compelled to stop by Drouet's threats, to get down from the coach and
to follow M. Sausse into his grocer's shop, which was to serve them
as the antechamber to the Temple. Madame la Duchesse d'Angoulême, who
had been one of the party on that first journey, was with the second.
When she recognised the fatal spot, after a lapse of thirty-eight
years, she shuddered, uttered a cry and would not allow the carriage
time for a relay, but commanded the postillions to go on to the next
posting-place. This time the postillions obeyed; they had refused on
21 June 1791. They did not, however, set off fast enough to prevent
overhearing a few injudicious words which the duchess let fall; words
that, borne on the winds of hatred, preceded her throughout the
journey, to such effect that, when Charles X. and his family reached
Nancy, the chief of Royalist towns, and showed themselves on the palace
balcony to bow to the people, hissings were heard above the cheers,
each time the king saluted: the people treated their princes just as
one treats actors who have played their parts badly. The Duc d'Orléans
lost sight of nothing; like a hunter on the watch for his prey, he lay
in wait to take advantage of all the errors made by the royal quarry he
was hunting down. Thus I, too, who was on a footing of intimacy in his
household, could, so to speak, feel the pulse of his ambition beating,
and had no doubt of the nature of his desires, which daily grew more
and more hopeful in character.
I have mentioned that the Chamber opened on 2 March 1830. I was present
at the opening session. Just as the king placed his foot on the first
step of the throne, he caught it in the velvet pile carpet that covered
the steps. He tripped and nearly fell. His cap rolled on the floor.
The Duc d'Orléans sprang forward to pick it up, and returned it to
the king. I nudged my neighbour--as far as I can recollect, it was
Beauchesne.
"Before a year is out," I said to him, "the same thing will happen to
the crown--only, instead of giving it back to Charles X., he will keep
it for himself."
In the speech pronounced by Charles X., after he had set the cap on
his head which the Duc d'Orléans had given him back, was the following
noteworthy paragraph:--
"I have no doubt of your co-operation in the good deeds
I wish to carry out. You will reject with scorn all
treacherous insinuations which malevolent feeling endeavours
to propagate. Should evil machinations raise up against my
rule obstacles which I neither will nor ought to foresee, I
should find strength to overcome them through my resolution
to maintain the public peace, in the just confidence of the
French people and in the love they ever bear towards their
king."
The Address of the 221 was the reply to this speech; to the above
paragraph, the following was the answer:--
"The Charter has laid it down as an indispensable condition
of the regular working of public affairs, that there should
be a permanent agreement of political views between your
Government and the desires of the people. Sire, our loyalty
and devotion compel us to tell you that such concurrence of
opinion does not exist."
It was a declaration of war in perfect form.
Charles X. trembled in every limb whilst he listened to the reading of
the Address. Then, when the deputation had quitted the Tuileries, he
said--
"I will not suffer my crown to be dipped in the gutter!" And he
dissolved the Chamber.
These were some of the events which thrilled through every heart, even
in that of the _Journal des Débats_. It attacked the Government with
most unusual violence.
"Polignac, La Bourdonnaye and Bourmont," it exclaimed, "that
is equivalent to saying Coblence, Waterloo, 1815! Those are
the three principles, the three chief characters of the
Ministry. Press them hard, twist them and they will disgorge
nothing but humiliations and misfortunes and danger!"
Charles X. read this article.
"Ah!" he said, "these people who invoke the Charter are not aware that
it contains Article 14, which we can hold at their heads."
And, as a matter of fact, the Polignac Ministry had only been created
in order to put into force that famous article, which Louis XVIII. had
concealed in the Charter, as a sword of dissension, but of which he
would never make use.
All the hopes of the king and M. de Polignac were vested in that very
Article 14.
Thus, when M. de Peyronnet had been summoned to form a Ministry, M. de
Polignac said to him--
"Remember, we want to put Article 14 in force."
"That is, indeed, my intention too!" M. de Peyronnet had said.
Everything was turning out for the best, since everybody was advising
France to apply Article 14.
It only remained to be seen whether France would allow it to be put in
force. They really hoped to turn the country's attention in another
direction by two dazzling visions; then, whilst it was turned away,
they meant to bandage its eyes and gag its lips. These two events were:
the conquest of Algiers; and the restitution of our Rhine frontiers.
Our readers know all about the conquest of Algiers. Exasperated by
our consul, the dey had struck him a blow across the face with his
fan. This blow was followed by three years of siege; but, as the
blockade really blockaded nothing, Hussein-dey, with Turkish logic,
had concluded that, as in Turkey, insults were always revenged in
proportion to the strength of the injured party, we could not be very
strong since we did not take our revenge. Consequently, being blockaded
as he was, he amused himself by shooting at a ship of truce, and also
openly threatened to put our consul at Tripoli to death by empaling
him; our consul not fancying a death of that kind, took refuge on board
an English ship which deposited him one fine day at Marseilles. Now
these insults were beyond toleration, and an African expedition was
decided upon.
That good friend of ours, England, that precious ally, which I thinks
it has a twofold right to meddle in all our affairs; which, every time
that we put our foot on any shore, trembles for fear we mean to set
up trade there; England, which, after having taken India from us, the
West Indies, Antilles and the isle of France, would like to take away
from us the two or three stations we have left, either in the Gulf of
Mexico or in Oceania or in the Indian Ocean, was greatly disturbed
at our projected expedition. Russia, on the contrary, rejoiced; it
delighted at the thought of France encamped on the other side of the
Mediterranean to keep an eye on Portugal and Gibraltar. Charles X.
understood that Russia was his real ally, that we, the rulers of the
West, had no disputed question to settle with her whose ambitions all
looked Eastwards. Austria, on account of its Mediterranean coast-line,
lent its aid to the expedition; Holland, whose consul had been put in
chains by orders of the dey, approved; the King of Piedmont, who saw
in it the safety of his commerce in respect of Genoa and Sardinia,
rejoiced much; Greece, who saw in it the prospect of a fresh blow aimed
at her old enemies, encouraged us to go ahead with our proceedings;
Méhémet-Ali, who regarded it as a means of weakening the Porte, offered
us his services; and, finally, all the powers of modern Italy, Tuscany,
Rome, Naples and Sicily, applauded us! And it was a capital opportunity
for once to send England about its business. M. d'Haussez, the Minister
of Marine, took it upon himself to do this. One day, Lord Stuart, the
English Ambassador in Paris, called upon him and, with that arrogant
air peculiar to English ambassadors, demanded an explanation.
"If you wish a diplomatic explanation," M. d'Haussez replied, "M. le
President du Conseil will give it you; if a personal explanation will
satisfy you, I will give it you: and it is this--we don't care a snap
of the fingers for you."
I was at the house of Madame du Cayla the evening when M. d'Haussez
related this heroic piece of brutality, and I should add that everybody
applauded it, even the ladies present. Lord Stuart transmitted the
reply to his Government, which, no doubt, found it satisfactory, since
they left us alone.
History has recorded the various attempts that have been made to
conquer Algiers; it was impregnable, a fact that had been proved, so
people said, by the Charles V. expedition in 1541, by Duquesne's in
1662 and by Lord Exmouth's in 1816; all three attempts having failed
or having been only partially successful. Happily, François Arago held
very different views, when summoned for consultation on the point.
François Arago knew Algiers, for he had been taken prisoner by a
Corsair and had spent several months on board his ship. He declared
that there were two things to be found in the neighbourhood of Algiers,
namely wood and water, though their existence had been denied by
the engineers. He convinced M de Polignac, who was ready enough
to be convinced, and he, in his turn, convinced General Bourmont,
who accepted the command of the land army, and Admiral Duperré, who
accepted the command of the fleet. Then, when all the preparations had
been energetically pushed forward, one hundred and three battleships,
three hundred and seventy-seven transport ships, and two hundred and
twenty-five vessels, carrying thirty-six thousand troops for landing,
and twenty-seven thousand sailors, all set sail on 16 May from the port
of Toulon and majestically advanced towards Algiers. So much for the
conquest of Algiers, which, at the end of the month of May, the time we
have reached, was in full swing.
Now let us pass on to the restitution of our Rhine frontiers. No
accident had led up to this event as in the case of Algiers. It was
a political combination, of which all the honour is due to M. de
Renneval, for it was he from whom the idea first emanated. France
and Russia entered into an offensive and defensive alliance against
England. And, trusting to this alliance, France would take back her
Rhine frontiers, and would, on her side, shut her eyes to the seizing
of Constantinople by Russia. Turkey would cry out, but no one would
care. Prussia and Holland would cry out, but Hanover would be taken
from England and divided into two parts, of which one would be given
to Prussia, the other to Holland. As to Austria, she would keep quiet,
thanks to a slice of Servia, with which a cake would be kneaded and
thrown to her as to Cerberus, not only to prevent her biting, but also
to keep her from barking.
These were two fine schemes for a king of France to accomplish--that
one man should abolish a barbarian power, the terror of the
Mediterranean, and give back to France her Rhine provinces, performing,
that is, a feat which Charles-Quint had failed in, winning back by
diplomacy what Napoleon had lost by arms; he would be, at once, both a
great military warrior and a great politician. What was to be feared,
and who could upset the Monarchy in this double scheme? Two elements:
the Ocean and the People!
CHAPTER VI
The soirée on 31 May 1830 at the Palais-Royal--The King
of Naples--A question of etiquette--How the King of
France ought to be addressed--The real Charles X.--M. de
Salvandy--The first flames of the volcano--The Duc de
Chartres sends me to inquire into the commotion--Alphonse
Signol--I tear him from the clutches of a soldier of the
Garde royal--His irritation and threats--The volcano nothing
but a fire of straw
It was in the midst of these events that the ball took place which I
mentioned at the beginning of the last chapter. As we have said, it was
given by the Duc d'Orléans to his brother-in-law, the King of Naples.
The King of Naples was that contemptible François, son of Ferdinand
and Caroline, who in 1820 was chosen by the patriots to represent
them, and betrayed them; who, selected in order to be a support to the
Revolution, suppressed it. He was the ruler of his citizens, decimated
in 1798, and proscribed in 1820; but, sure of the allegiance of his
lazzaroni (the real pillar of strength upon which the throne of the
Two Sicilies rests), he came to visit France and to spend a short time
with his family. The regal travellers--the queen accompanied him--met
with a splendid reception at the Court, but so great was the aversion
shown by Paris to this betrayer, that the prefect of the Seine, much as
he desired to give a fête to him, dared not do it for fear the people
would break his windows. The Duc d'Orléans, however, under cover of the
relationship, and relying upon his ever growing popularity, ventured to
do what the prefect of the Seine had not dared. But there was one great
question to be settled, or, rather, a great favour to be obtained--and
that was the presence at this fête of King Charles X. I remember the
stir that took place over it at the time, at the Palais-Royal. The Duc
d'Orléans, who knew Court etiquette as well as any man in the kingdom,
was fully aware that a King of France gives fêtes himself, but does
not accept invitations to any others. There was, indeed, a precedent
to this derogation from the usual custom: a century before, Louis XV.,
on returning from a journey or fête, I forget which, spent three days
with the Prince of Condé; but it was _in the country_, at Chantilly,
so it was of no signification. It is also true, that in visiting the
Duc d'Orléans you visited the duchess, who was the daughter of a king
and a _true Bourbon_, as Madame la Duchesse d'Angoulême expressed it;
which was not polite towards the Orléans, who were then looked upon
as _false Bourbons_; but the duke thought it would be a fine thing to
receive the king in his own house! So great an honour would reflect
glory upon the family escutcheon; and the duke closed his eyes in order
not to see the grimace that Madame la Dauphine made, shut his ears in
order not to hear the remarks made by Madame la Duchesse d'Angoulême
and persisted in his request so respectfully, that Charles X. let
himself be persuaded, on condition that a company of his guards should
occupy the Palais-Royal an hour before his arrival. These questions
of etiquette were very paltry matters compared with those which were
being debated at the same time between the people and the Monarchy.
As soon as the royal promise was obtained, the household of the Duc
d'Orléans thought of nothing else but the forthcoming ball. It was
resolved to display before the King of Naples all the best literary and
artistic exponents of the world of France. King Charles X., who knew
little or nothing about them, would see them at the same time, and so
he could kill two birds with one stone. Apparently, I was looked upon
as a spurious specimen, just as the Orléans were spurious Bourbons;
for I had been forgotten, or, at all events, left out of the list. But
that excellent youth, the Duc de Chartres, asked for a ticket for me,
and was delighted to send me one. I hesitated to accept, since the
man should see was the son of the king and queen who had poisoned my
father. But not to reply to the invitation would have been to grieve
the Duc de Chartres, both on account of my absence and because of the
reason for that absence. I therefore decided to accept. The invitations
said "Half-past eight"; the king, Charles X., was to arrive at nine.
When the due d'Orléans caught sight of me, he came up to me--a mark of
attention that astonished me much.
It was not that he had a favour to confer on me, but a piece of advice
he had to give me. His Royal Highness, supposing me to be little versed
in etiquette, wished to give me some tips to avoid tripping on the
slippery floors of the Palais-Royal.
"Monsieur Dumas," the duke said, "if, by chance, the king does you the
honour of addressing you, you know that, in replying to him, you should
neither address him as _Sire_ or _His Majesty_, but simply _the King_."
"Yes, monseigneur, I am acquainted with that fact."
"Ah! how do you know that?"
"I know it, monseigneur, and even the reason for the mode of address.
The words _Sire_ and _Majesty_ were profaned directly they were given
to the usurper, and true-born courtiers very wisely consider that they
could no longer be given to a legitimate monarch."
"Very good!" the duke said, turning on his heel, and plainly indicating
by the tone of his voice that he would much have preferred me to be
less well informed in Court matters.
Ten minutes later, the drums beat to arms. The Duc d'Orléans took
the duchesse by the arm and signed to Madame Adélaïde and to the Duc
de Chartres to follow him; he went at such a rate, to meet the royal
visitor, that he lost his wife in the guard-chamber as Æneas had done
three thousand years before on leaving Troy, and as, eighteen years
later, the Duc de Montpensier was to do upon quitting the Tuileries.
The duke reached the great entrance hall of the Palais-Royal just as
Charles X. was stepping out of his carriage and putting his foot on the
first step of the stairs that led up to it. We had rushed after our
illustrious hosts, whom we saw reappear between a hedge of guards two
deep, in the following order:--
King Charles X. walked first with Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans upon
his arm. M. le Dauphin next, giving his arm to Madame Adélaïde. Then
M. le Duc d'Orléans, with Madame la Dauphine; and, last, M. le Duc de
Chartres, giving his arm to Madame la Duchesse de Berry. In front of
them, ready to receive them at the door of the first salon, advanced
the King and Queen of Naples.
It is quite twenty-two years since King Charles X. died in exile;
the men of our generation saw him, but those of thirty, or young men
of about twenty, did not see him and it is for their eyes we pen the
following description. Charles X. was then an old man of seventy-six,
tall and thin, with his head inclined a little on one side, adorned
with beautiful white hair; his eyes were still vivacious and smiling;
he had the Bourbon nose, and a mouth made ugly by the under lip
drooping on his chin; he was most gracious and courteous, faithful and
loyal, true to his friendships and to his vows; he possessed every
kingly attribute except enthusiasm. In manner he possessed a regal
air peculiar to his race. If Article 14 had not been in the Charter,
he would certainly never have dreamt of making a _coup d'état_; for,
to do so, meant breaking his oath, and had he forfeited his promise,
he would, as he himself said, never again have dared to look at the
portrait of François I. or the statue of King John. Furthermore,
desiring absolutism from mere indolence, and tyranny from lack of
activity, he used to say, apropos of tyranny and absolutism--
"You may pound all the princes of the house of Bourbon in the same
mortar without extracting a single grain of despotism out of them!" And
Louis Blanc has drawn him admirably in the lines: "As human as he was
commonplace, if he desired to make his power absolute, it was in order
to relieve himself of violent action; for there was nothing energetic
about him, not even in his fanaticism; nothing really great, not even
about his pride."
In conclusion, the precautions taken on my behalf by the Duc d'Orléans
were unnecessary. The king never even looked at me; although I should
add that I never took the least pains to put myself within range of his
vision.
I felt a real antipathy towards the Bourbons of the Elder Branch of the
family, and it was only when I thought of the dead, of the past and of
those living in exile, that I could bring myself to do justice to them
later.
When the king, the dauphin, the dauphiness and the Duchesse de Berry
had arrived, the fête began.
M. de Salvandy has related, with regard to this fête, the whole of his
conversation with the Duc d'Orléans. It began with these words, which
made the political fortune of the author of _Alonzo_:--
"Monseigneur, this is a true Neapolitan fête, for we are dancing upon
the edge of a volcano ..."
And, indeed, the volcano very soon began to show its fires. They
proceeded from the Palais-Royal, the crater of 1789, which people
thought had been extinguished thirty-five years before, but which was,
in reality, only slumbering. I was there and saw it spring up, and
can therefore give an account of the eruption that took place under
my own eyes. I had gone out to cool myself on the terrace, and was
meditating upon the strange coincidence of fate that made me, even in
those days a Republican, almost an enforced witness of a fête given by
the Bourbons of France, against whom my father had fought, to those
Bourbons of Naples who had poisoned him, when all of a sudden loud
cries were heard and bright lights were seen in the gardens of the
Palais-Royal. A mass of flame, as though coming from a stack of wood,
rose from one of the square lawns among the flower-beds which seemed
to spring from the pedestal of the statue of Apollo. And this was what
had happened. The numerous spectators of the princely fête that crowded
in the Palais-Royal garden were anxious to have their share in the
festivities, and, in contempt of the sentinels who guarded the lawns, a
dozen young people had scaled the balustrades and, taking each other's
hands, had begun a round dance, singing the old revolutionary _Ça
ira._ During this time other young people had entertained themselves
by piling up a pyramid of chairs and illuminating it by putting in the
interstices of the chairs lamps taken from here and there. The leading
builder of this tottering edifice and the principal actor in this
revolutionary escapade was a young man whose death gave him a certain
celebrity. He styled himself a literary man and his name was Alphonse
Signol. Three days before, he had brought me a drama, entitled _le
Chiffonnier_, and had asked me to read it. It certainly had some merit
(we shall see later what became of it), but it was so far removed from
my own style of writing of which, consequently, I was master, that it
would have been impossible for me to render him any assistance, even
in the way of advice. If only Signol had been content with putting the
lamps on the chairs, all would have been well; but, instead, he took
it into his head to place the chairs on top of the lamps, and all went
wrong. The flame from a lamp reached the straw of one of the chairs and
the whole pile flared up. Thence issued flames and cries, and women
flying through the trees and under the arches of the stone galleries.
This tumult quickly attracted the attention of the guests of the Duc
d'Orléans. It was a serious matter to have shrieks and a fire in the
garden of the Palais-Royal whilst Charles X. was within its precincts!
I saw the Duc d'Orléans gesticulating wildly at a window; and whilst
I was beginning to be far more taken up by what was passing inside
than out of doors, I felt someone touch me gently on the shoulder. I
turned round, and it was M. le Duc de Chartres, who had tried in vain
to find out the meaning of all the disorder and smoke, and wanted to
know if I had been more lucky in my inquiries than he. I replied in
the negative, but offered at once to go and find out for him the cause
and the upshot of the commotion; and as I could see he rejected my
offer only from motives of discretion, in five seconds I was out in
the hall and in another five in the garden. I arrived just in time to
witness a struggle between a young man and a soldier, in which the
youth was going to come off worst; when, thinking I recognised him,
I sprang forward. I was so strong that I soon managed to separate the
two combatants. I was right in my conjectures: the youth was Signol.
The soldier was a corporal or sergeant belonging to the 3rd Regiment of
the Guard. Signol had been pretty severely handled in the struggle; he
was, consequently, furious, and although separated from the soldier, he
still threatened to attack him again.
"Oh, you scamp!" he said, shaking his fist at him, "I don't want to
have anything to do with you ... but the first officer of your regiment
that I come across, I promise you, on my word of honour, I will box his
ears for him."
I tried to quieten him down.
"No, no, no," he said; "when I promise I keep my word; and you shall be
my second, will you not?"
I replied "Yes," to quieten him, and dragged him away into the rue de
Valois. There, under pretext of inquiring the motive of his quarrel,
I asked him what had taken place, and he told me what I have just
related. In the midst of his recital he found a chance to ask me if I
had read his drama. I replied in the affirmative.
"Very well, then," he said; "I will come and talk about it with you
to-morrow."
And, as though he feared the tumult would calm down in his absence, he
rushed back into the Palais-Royal garden. I did not restrain him, for I
knew all I wanted to know--there had been no premeditated plot in this
accident--it was nothing but a bit of tomfoolery. I went back into the
palace and gave M. le Duc de Chartres an account of my expedition.
The narrative was so short and concise that, when it had been
transmitted by the young prince to his father's illustrious guests, it
immediately calmed the fears they appeared for a moment to have had.
But, for greater safety, the crowd was made to leave the garden, and
the fête continued, without further interruption, until daybreak.
At midnight the king and the royal family retired.
CHAPTER VII
A pressing affair--One witness lost, and two
found--Rochefort--Signol at the Théâtre des Italiens--He
insults Lieutenant Marulaz--The two swords--The duel--Signol
is killed--_Victorine_ and _le Chiffonnier_--Death steps in
Next day I was awakened by Signol. A minute after his return to the
garden of the Palais-Royal, he had been compelled to leave it at the
point of a bayonet. He seemed to me to be, if possible, still more
exasperated in the morning than on the previous night. Now, he not
merely thirsted to kill one officer of the 3rd Regiment, but, like Han
d'Islande, he desired to annihilate the whole regiment. As I thought I
detected incipient madness in this mania for slaughter, I started the
subject of his melodrama. Then the man's mood changed: he had written
the drama with the object of bringing some comfort to his aged mother,
and a whole year's hopes and happiness rested on that work. If I did
not keep it to re-read and did not offer to touch it up, or, at any
rate, advise him where to do so, he was conscious that, in its present
state of incompletion, it could not be acted and would be refused;
then, good-bye to the sweet light of hope which had shone for a brief
space in the hearts of both mother and son! I therefore promised to
re-read _le Chiffonnier_ and to do my best to promote its success.
After which promise I invited the author to breakfast. We parted
between noon and one o'clock. He went to the Théâtre-Italien to claim a
stall which he received as editor of some paper or other.
_La Gazza ladra_ was being played that night. I myself had an
appointment with a very pretty woman, whom I had met at Firmin's
house, a lady who played in _les Mars_ in the provinces; and it was a
rendezvous of such an interesting nature that I did not return home
until the following noon. My servant told me that the young man who
had breakfasted with me the day before had called to see me at seven
in the morning and had seemed very vexed at not finding me at home. He
had asked for a pen and paper and written this note--which Joseph (my
servant) handed me:--
"Alphonse Signol, on very pressing business."
I thought it was about his drama, and, as I did not consider that
business so pressing as Signol did, and as I was very tired, I went
to bed and told my servant to tell any caller that I was not at home.
Towards five o'clock I woke and rang. Signol had returned and written
another note, which, when brought to me, contained these words:--
"DEAR DUMAS,--I fight a duel with swords to-morrow morning
with M. Marulaz, lieutenant of the 3rd Guards Regiment. I
told you I should ask you to be my second and I came this
morning to beg you to render me that service. You were not
at home, so I had to look for someone else. I have found a
substitute. If I am killed, I bequeath _le Chiffonnier_ to
your charge; it will be the only source of income I have to
leave to my mother.
"_Vale et me ama_ "SIGNOL"
This letter filled me with sad thoughts for the rest of that day and
night. I had no notion where Signol lived, or whether he had a home at
all, so I could not send to him. I suddenly bethought me that I might
possibly gain news of him at the café des Variétés, which he frequented
most days; also, a month previous to this time, he had had a quarrel
with Soulié, which had ended in the exchange of a couple of pistol
shots. It was now nearly five o'clock in the afternoon. Rochefort (a
friend of mine, a clever fellow who composed several original plays,
one of them being _Jocko_, besides some delightful poems) was taking
a glass of absinthe at one of the café tables. He rose when he caught
sight of me.
"Ah!" he said, scratching his nose,'a habit he had, "you know poor
Signol! ..."
"Well?"
"He has just been killed!"
I heaved a sigh, although, really, it was no news to me, for my
presentiments had already told me Rochefort's news. Here is an account
of what had happened. When he left me two nights before, he had gone to
get his stall ticket from the Théâtre-Italien. By ill-luck they gave
him a stall in the orchestra. A second unfortunate coincidence decreed
that an officer and soldiers of the 3rd Regiment of the Guard should be
on duty that night at the Italiens. There was an empty seat in front
of Signol, which an officer came and appropriated at the conclusion
of the first act. He was the son of General Marulaz, now, I believe,
himself a general. It was not really his turn on duty, but he had taken
the place of one of his friends; his friend had a special engagement
that night (notice the strange chain of circumstances!), he therefore
begged Marulaz to be so good as to take his place. Marulaz consented,
and had hardly sat down before he felt two hands leaning on the back of
his stall. He did not think any rudeness was intended by the action, so
he did not take any notice at first; but when the hands remained there
for ten minutes, he turned round and saw that they belonged to Signol.
Marulaz politely intimated that the back of his seat was not the right
place for Signol's hands and, without replying, Signol withdrew them.
The young officer thought the incident was accidental, and accordingly
attached no significance to it. Five minutes later, on leaning back in
his seat, he again felt the hands there. He did not wait this time, but
turned round immediately.
"Monsieur," he said, "I have already intimated to you that your hands
annoy me there; have the goodness to put them in your pockets if you
have no other place for them, but please be so good as to take them off
my seat!"
Signol withdrew them a second time. But, at the end of another two
minutes, the young officer felt, not merely his irritating neighbour's
hands but also his head upon his shoulder. This time he lost all
patience, jumped up and turned round.
"Monsieur! monsieur!" he exclaimed, "if you are doing it on purpose to
pick a quarrel with me, tell me so outright."
"Very well, then; it is done on purpose," Signol replied, rising too.
"Why?"
"On purpose to insult you, and if I have not done sufficient to that
end already, take that!" And the angry madman gave Marulaz a blow
across the face.
Thoroughly astounded at this incomprehensible conduct, the young
officer mechanically drew his sword half out of its sheath.
"Look!" shouted Signol, "he is going to murder me!"
Marulaz pushed his sword back again into its scabbard and replied--
"No, monsieur; I will not assassinate you, but I will kill you!"
And, to avenge the insult he had thus gratuitously received, Marulaz,
who was very strong, lifted Signol as though he had been a child right
across from the one row to his own, and then placed him under his feet.
The incident caused a great commotion in the theatre, especially as
even those close by did not know what it was all about: they had
heard an altercation, seen the blow, and heard the words "He is going
to murder me!" They had seen the flash of the drawn sword and its
speedy return to its sheath; finally, they saw one man standing over
another with his foot upon him. Not knowing precisely which was in
the right or wrong of the quarrel, they took the part of the weaker,
surrounded Marulaz, and pulled him off Signol, who, staggering and half
suffocated, made for the corridor and street, and thence to the theatre
café. Marulaz followed him there, and it became then a question of
reparation, no longer one that could be settled by an immediate fight.
They exchanged cards and fixed a meeting for the next day but one, in
the bois de Vincennes.
The next day was to be spent by each combatant in choosing his seconds,
and by the seconds in arranging the conditions of the duel. At two
o'clock the following day, the four seconds met, conferred together and
agreed upon swords as the weapons to be employed. Lieutenant Marulaz
chose as one of his seconds the friend whom he had replaced on duty;
this friend had duelling swords, and Marulaz examined them, pronounced
them suitable and told him to bring them on the occasion.
"Agreed," said his friend; "but I warn you one of the two is an unlucky
weapon: it has already served a similar purpose three or four times,
and the combatants who used it were either killed or hurt."
"Plague take it!" Marulaz replied laughingly; "don't tell me which it
is, then, and if I draw it I would rather not know."
The following morning they met in the bois de Vincennes. All had
brought swords with them. They drew lots for them, and those brought by
Marulaz' seconds won. Then they drew which should have the choice of
these two swords. Marulaz again won the toss. He took the first that
came to hand haphazard.
"Bravo!" his friend whispered to him; "you have drawn the right one!"
They stood to attention. At the second round, Marulaz disarmed Signol.
"Monsieur," he exclaimed, taking a step backwards, "I am disarmed!"
"So I see, monsieur," Marulaz coolly replied; "but since you are not
wounded, pick up your sword and let us continue."
Signol picked it up, drew some string from his pocket, made surer hold
of his sword, and, with a rapid attack, against the customary rules of
duelling, stood on guard, lunged and wounded his adversary severely
in the arm. When Marulaz felt the cold steel and saw the flow of
blood he felt goaded to frenzy, sprang at his enemy and forced him to
retreat twenty paces, bringing him up against a hedge where he lunged
and passed his sword clean through the body. Signol uttered a sharp
cry, stretched out his arms and died before he had time to fall to the
ground.
"Messieurs," Marulaz said, turning to the four seconds, "have I fought
fairly?"
All bowed in acknowledgment that he had. Had there been any
recriminations to make in that fatal encounter, they would have been
directed against the dead man. But no one thinks of laying blame on a
corpse....
It will be remembered that I had now inherited Signol's manuscript,
of which the manager of the Porte-Saint-Martin possessed a duplicate.
Three or four months later, I was present at the first production of
_Victorine, ou la Nuit porte conseil._ It was the skeleton idea of
_Chiffonnier_, it is true, but encased in a delightful setting that
was none of Signol's creation. One of its authors was Dupeuty, the
others were Dumersan and Gabriel. I sought out Dupeuty, placed the
MS. of _Chiffonnier_ in his hands and asked him if he thought it fair
to deprive Signol's mother of what I considered to be her share of
the production. Dupeuty and his collaborators had no notion of the
existence of an original manuscript, as the idea of their vaudeville
had been supplied them by the manager of the Porte-Saint-Martin, and
they had worked upon it; but when they learnt the true parentage, they
spontaneously, generously and loyally agreed to include the poor mother
in their success.
And that is the story of Signol's death and of the composition and
production of _Victorine, ou la Nuit porte conseil._
BOOK II
CHAPTER I
Alphonse Karr--The cuirassier--The medal of life saving
and the Cross of the Légion d'honneur--Karr's home at
Montmartre--_Sous les tilleuls_ and the critics--The taking
of Algiers--M. Dupin senior--Why he did not write his
Memoirs--Signing of the Ordinances of July--Reasons that
prevented my going to Algiers
The events we have just recorded in our last chapter bring us up to the
2nd of June.
As Charles X. looked up at the starry heavens from the top of the Duc
d'Orléans' terrace he said--
"What splendid weather for my Algerian fleet!"
But he was mistaken: almost immediately the fleet had left port it had
been scattered by a storm, and, when Charles made his comment, it was
having the utmost difficulty in rallying at Palma.
As regards other matters, the Opposition was going ahead and great
and small newspapers kept hitting at the Government, some with clubs
and some with staves. We have mentioned how the _Journal des Débats_
treated the Polignac Ministry upon its accession to power. If we had
these little papers under our notice we might, perhaps, be able to
prove that the banter of dwarfs can work as much mischief as insults
inflicted by giants.
_Le Figaro_ was among the number of the small journals which, at that
time, were carrying on a skirmishing engagement with the Government.
It was under the management of Bohain, and, as is well known, Janin,
Romieu, Nestor Roqueplan, Brucker, Vaulabelle, Michel Masson and
Alphonse Karr were among its most prominent contributors. Karr was,
at that time, perhaps, the least known of that Pleiades of fighting
men. He has since become one of our most distinguished literary
artists--observe, I say literary artists and not literati or men of
letters--but at that time he was fighting his maiden battles. He had
been present at the reading of _Henri III._, at Nestor Roqueplan's,
where I became acquainted with him. According to our usual custom
in the case of all the remarkable men of our day, let us select for
particular comment, from his early efforts, that special faculty which
has the power of giving to truth the charm of paradox. This truth, bare
and undraped when treated by others, is always, on leaving the hands
of Alphonse Karr, clad in a veil of gold. Without doubt Alphonse Karr
has, since 1830, told the various Governments which have succeeded each
other, as well as those who have flattered or attacked them, a greater
number of truths than any other man. And, different from the supposed
truths of others, those of Alphonse Karr are real and undeniable, the
more they are probed the more they are proved to be true. Alphonse Karr
was, in those days, a handsome young man of twenty-two or twenty-three,
with regular features set in a frame of dark hair; he had adopted
an eccentric form of dress, which he has always adhered to; he was
extremely well made, strong physically, and an adept at all gymnastic
exercises, especially at swimming and fencing. During the year 1829,
when bathing in the Marne, he had rescued a cuirassier from drowning.
The man was heavy and nearly as strong as Karr himself, so that it
almost happened that, instead of Karr saving the cuirassier, the
cuirassier drowned Karr. The act made sufficient of a stir for Karr to
receive a medal from the Government, and I have occasionally seen him
wear it. This medal was, in the hands of wags, the source of endless
gibes, which Karr's reputation for bravery maintained, it is true,
within the bounds of propriety, but which was never exhausted. There
was no precedent for that famous medal, and I was reading something
about it, only yesterday, in some newspaper rag or other. One day,
at a great dinner at which I was present together with a host of
people wearing decorations--not just ordinary medals but the Cross of
the Légion d'honneur, which, at the present day, is distributed and
conferred in a totally different manner from all the medals in the
world--those jokes at Karr's expense, who was also one of the guests,
broke out afresh. Karr, with his cool and habitual phlegm, called the
waiter and asked for a pen, ink and paper. He cut the paper into as
many round pieces as there were decorated guests at the table, wrote
on each piece the reason for which the wearer had been decorated and
passed each slip to its proper quarter. It completely silenced his
scoffers.
Karr was born in Germany, in December 1808, and has only become a
naturalised Frenchman since 1848. His father was one of the five or
six German musicians who evolved the piano from the harpsichord. Three
of his uncles died as captains in the French service. He was, besides,
a nephew of Baron Heurteloup, and a cousin of Habeneck. In those days
he wrote no political articles for the _Figaro._ He has more than
once told me, in all seriousness, that he saw the Revolution of July,
and even that of February, without knowing what they were about. But,
later, he studied the subject of I revolutions very deeply; for, in
1848, he wrote on the subject--
"Plus cela change, plus c'est la même chose!" ("The more things change,
the more do they remain the same!")
In 1829 he was an assistant professor in the Collège Bourbon and took
to writing poetry, some of which he sent to the _Figaro._ Bohain opened
all the letters received. Now Bohain was one of those plain-spoken men
who openly professed a lofty scorn for poetry. His reply to Karr was--
"MY DEAR SIR,--Your lines are charming; but send me prose. I
would rather be hanged than put a single line of poetry in
my paper!"
Karr did not press the point: clever men are rare, and, as he did
not wish Bohain to hang himself, he sent him prose instead. This was
a great humiliation for the young poet to have to swallow. All the
articles of a pastoral nature that were published by _le Figaro_ at
this period were by Alphonse Karr. Karr had made himself the oddest
of dwelling-places. He had hired the old Tivoli at Montmartre, which
had half tumbled in ruins into the quarries: there still remained a
little wood and the cloakroom made of rushes. By night he slept in
the cloakroom; by day he walked in the little wood. Here he began his
first novel, _Sous les tilleuls._ He finished it in the rue de la
Ferme-des-Mathurins, in the workshop of the two brothers Johannot,
which he took after them. From Montmartre, Alphonse Karr only came into
Paris about twice a month. He had a boat at Saint-Ouen, where he spent
all the time he had left from his wood or the cloakroom.
_Sous les tilleuls_ appeared in 1831, I believe. The book, worthy of
notice, was accordingly noticed. That means it was attacked bitterly,
as all things that show originality and power are attacked in France.
They first accused the author of imitating a book of Nodier's that had
appeared a fortnight after his; unfortunately, the date being on the
title page, they had to withdraw that accusation. They next accused him
of having translated it wholesale from the German, and even went so far
as to give the title of the German original, _Unter den Linden_ (Under
the Limes), but it was soon seen that there was no book bearing such
a title throughout the whole range of German literature, and that in
nearly all the large towns was to be found a public promenade called
thus--a fact Alphonse Karr did not deny. The author had placed as
epigrams at the head of his chapters or letters verses of his own, no
doubt those that Bohain had rejected, but which he had felt it his duty
to adorn with the names of Schiller, Goethe and Uhland. The critics
were taken in, and praised them at the expense of the prose. Prose and
verse were both Karr's! Besides, a large number of the letters in the
novel had been actually written to a young girl of whom Karr had been
deeply enamoured. Karr did not receive his decoration until 1845 or
1846. One day he was told by Cavé that it was a question of giving the
Cross to his father or himself. Marie-Louise had promised the Cross to
his father, who, in 1840, was still waiting for it. Karr sought out M.
Duchâtel, and, having satisfied himself that Cavé was quite correct in
his statement, he said to the minister--
"Monsieur, when a father and son are both deserving of the Cross, the
son does not accept it before his father."
And M. Duchâtel only gave the decoration to the father, whereas both
father and son ought to have had it. When his father died, Karr
received a decoration; he took the last ribbon his father had worn from
his coat and put it on his own.
Early in June 1830, I met him in the street, arm in arm with Brucker.
Brucker was a painter on china, and one of the most original workers
in the journalism of 1830. I met them both at the very moment when the
first of the hundred guns announcing the capture of Algiers were being
fired.
"Listen!" Karr asked. "What is that? It sounds like the firing of guns."
"Doubtless Algiers has been taken," I replied.
"Bah! Have they been besieging it?" Karr replied.
Algiers was, indeed, taken; its surname of _la Guerrière_ had not
availed to save it. That nest of vultures which, as Hugo said, had
been only half killed by Duquesne, was, at last, destroyed by M. de
Bourmont. Directly the great news was received, the Minister for
Marine, Baron d'Haussez, rushed off to the king. When he was announced,
Charles X. sprang towards him with open arms; M. d'Haussez intended to
kiss his hand, but Charles drew him to his breast.
"Come to my arms," he said; "to-day we all kiss one another."
And the king and his minister embraced.
However, amidst these apparent favours which Providence seemed to be
piling on the head of the Elder Branch, clearsighted men could discern
a yawning abyss.
"Take care!" M. Beugnot exclaimed, like a terrified pilot. "Unless you
take care, the Monarchy will founder under canvas like a fully armed
ship!"
"I should be much less uneasy were M. de Polignac a bit more so!" M.
de Metternich remarked to our Ambassador at Vienna, M. de Renneval.
It must be confessed that even the Opposition, who were not so
far-seeing as M. Beugnot and M. de Metternich, undertook to reassure
the king, in the event of His Majesty feeling any anxiety. How, indeed,
could they fear anything, when M. Dupin senior, one of the leaders of
the Opposition, said, during the debate on the Address--
"The _fundamental basis_ of the Address is _a profound
respect for the person of the King_; it expresses in the
very highest degree _veneration for the ancient race of
Bourbons_; it represents _legitimacy_, as a _legal truths_
but, further, as a _social necessity_-a necessity--now
recognised _by all thoughtful minds_, the true outcome of
experience and of conviction."
O good Monsieur Dupin! of sound mind and integrity of judgment, a
shining light of the Bar, a fearless and blameless legislator; you who,
pondering over the trial of Jesus, wrote these sublime lines on Pontius
Pilate--
"Pilate, seeing that he could not prevail over the spirit of
the multitude, but that their excitement increased more and
more, sent for water and washed his hands before the people,
saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man:
see ye to it' (Matt, XXVII. 24); 'and he granted them their
request' (Luke XXIII. 24), 'and delivered him into their
hands to be crucified' (Matt, XXVII. 26). Wash thy hands, O
Pilate! they are dyed with innocent blood. Thou hast given
in through weakness, and art just as guilty as though thou
hadst sacrificed him from wicked intention; generations have
repeated it down to our times. 'The righteous man suffered
under Pontius Pilate' (_passus est sub Pontio Pilato_). Thy
name stands in history as a lesson to warn all public men,
all pusillanimous judges, to show them the shame of yielding
against their own convictions! The populace shrieked in fury
at the foot of thy tribunal; perhaps thy own life was not
safe, but what matter? Thy duty was plain, and in such a
dilemma it is better to suffer death than to inflict it"--
O worthy Monsieur Dupin! advocate of Jesus Christ and of Béranger under
the Restoration; President of the Chamber and Procurator-General
under Louis-Philippe; President of the National Assembly, why do
you not write your Memoirs, as I am writing mine? Why do you not,
contrary to the cowardice and fear of Pontius Pilate, show yourself
immovable in your convictions, unshaken in your duty, tenacious in
your sympathies, immovable upon your bench as procurator-general, calm
in your presidential chair, rigid on your curule chair of legislator?
What instruction the world could have derived from the Memoirs of a man
like yourself, who had such hosts of opportunities of showing proof
of his faithful allegiance to the Elder Branch of the Bourbons on 29
July 1830, to the Younger Branch on 24 February 1848, and, finally,
of his fidelity to the Republic on 2 December 1851! But you are too
modest, good Monsieur Dupin! Modesty, combined with civil courage and
a political conscience, is one of your greatest qualities, and it is
only from modesty that you do not yourself dare to say what you think
of yourself. But, never mind, for, every time that occasion presents, I
shall do myself the honour of taking your place in the honourable task,
my only regret being that I do not know more than I do, in order to
speak out more fully and to treat you according to your deserts. What
reason for fear had the legitimacy when the Society _Aide-toi! le ciel
aidera_, at the Festival of the Gathering of the Grapes in Burgundy,
declared that the king was the first power in the State, and drank
toasts to the health of Charles X.? Why need they be afraid when M.
Odilon Barrot, in another banquet given by six hundred electors, which
was decorated with two hundred and twenty-one symbolic crowns, mingled
the king and the law together in one single toast? O great statesmen,
you who dig graves for kings and who bury monarchies, when, indeed,
will the people, tired of your sham science, rub your faces, once for
all, in the history which you are making, and which you do not see?
Thus, on 24 July, Charles X. called together a Council in absolute
confidence. At this Council the fate of the Monarchy was again weighed
in the balance, and it was decided to sign the Ordinances. But M.
d'Haussez ventured to observe to the President of the Council that M.
de Bourmont had extracted a promise from him to risk nothing during his
absence.
"Bah!" the Prince de Polignac remarked, "what need have we of him? Am I
not the War Minister during his absence?"
"But," M. d'Haussez asked, "how many men can you rely on in Paris? Have
you, at the lowest computation, even as many as twenty-eight or thirty
thousand?"
"Oh, more than that; I have forty-two thousand."
M. d'Haussez shook his head dubiously.
"Look, then, for yourself," the President of the Council said, and
threw him a rolled document across the table.
M. d'Haussez unrolled it and added up the figures.
"But I can only find here thirteen thousand men, and that number on
paper will mean scarcely seven to eight thousand men actually fit for
war. Where do you get your missing twenty-nine thousand to complete
your total of forty-two thousand?"
"Make yourself easy about the matter," M. de Polignac replied; "they
are scattered round Paris and, in a few hours' time, if needed, could
be all collected on the Place de la Concorde."
The Ordinances were signed the following day.
When signing, the king had the dauphin on his right hand and M. de
Polignac on his left; the other ministers completed the circle round
the green table. Each one signed in turn. M. d'Haussez again raised his
objections.
"Monsieur," Charles X. said to him, "do you refuse to co-operate with
your colleagues?"
"Sire," responded M. d'Haussez, "may I be allowed to put a question to
the king?"
"What is it, monsieur?"
"Does the king intend to proceed, supposing one or more of his
ministers should resign?"
"Yes," Charles replied with decision.
"Then, in that case," said the Naval Minister, "I will sign." And he
did so.
Five minutes later, they all stood up and, as Charles X. passed by M.
d'Haussez, he noticed that the minister's attentive gaze was fixed on
the walls, and he asked--
"What are you looking at so attentively, Monsieur d'Haussez?"
"Sire, I was looking to see if by any chance I could find a picture of
the Earl of Strafford."[1]
The king smiled and passed on.
These details became known afterwards; they were kept a profound secret
at the time. Only two or three men were aware of what was happening.
Casimir Périer, who was deeply attached to the Older Branch of the
Bourbons, at that time, as were M. Dupin and M. Barrot and many
others (we shall see presently how Périer did his utmost to quell the
Revolution of July when it broke out) was dining at his country house
in the bois de Boulogne, when he received a tiny triangular-shaped
note. He opened, read it and grew pale, then livid, and his arms fell
to his sides in despair. It announced that the Ordinances had been
signed that very day. Who sent him the news never transpired. On the
evening of the 25th or 26th, M. de Rothschild, who was speculating on a
rise in stocks, received this simple statement from M. de Talleyrand:--
"I have just come from Saint-Cloud: speculate for a fall in prices."
But I, who was neither a M. Casimir Périer nor a M. de Rothschild nor
yet a friend of M. de Talleyrand, I, who neither speculated upon rises
or falls on the Stock Exchange, knew absolutely nothing of what was
going on, and I was about to start for Algiers. Algiers would be a
really fine sight during the early days of its conquest. I had taken
my seat on the mail coach for Marseilles and packed my luggage; I had
exchanged three thousand francs in silver for three thousand francs in
gold, and I was to have set out at five in the evening of Monday the
26th, when, at eight on Monday morning, Achille Comte entered my room
and said--
"Have you heard the great news?"
"No."
"The Ordinances are announced in the _Moniteur._ Shall you still go to
Algiers?"
"I shall not be so foolish. We shall see stranger events here at home
than out there!"
'Then I called my servant.
"Joseph," I said, "go to my gun-maker's and bring me back my
double-barrelled gun and two hundred bullets of twenty calibre!"
[1] See the passage wherein Louis Blanc admirably describes this scene
in his _Histoire de dix ans._
CHAPTER II
The third storey of No. 7 in the rue de l'Université--The
first results of the Ordinances--The café du Roi--Étienne
Arago--François Arago--The Academy--La Bourse--Le
Palais-Royal--Madame de Leuven--Journey in search of her
husband and son--Protest of the journalists--Names of the
signatories
My servant returned with the necessary articles a couple of hours
later. I carefully locked up gun and ammunition and went out to take
a breath of air in the streets. It was ten o'clock in the morning,
and the face of Paris looked as quiet as though the _Moniteur_ had
announced the beginning of the shooting season, instead of having
published the Ordinances. Comte laughed at my forebodings. I took
him to breakfast on the third floor of No. 7 rue de l'Université.
It was then occupied by a very pretty woman, who had taken such a
warm interest in my intended departure for Algiers that she meant
to accompany me as far as Marseilles. I went to tell her that, for
the time being, at all events, I had given the journey up and that,
consequently, if she had packed her trunks, she could unpack them.
She had not been able to take in the fact that my real motive for my
African trip was curiosity; she could not understand any more clearly
my reasons for staying in France, which were entirely from curiosity.
She considered I ought to have found more adequate reasons both for my
going and for my staying.
My readers who have been good enough to follow the different phases of
my life in these Memoirs must have noticed that I have been careful
to avoid details of the kind just hinted at above; but I shall have
occasion to refer more than once to this friendship, which was to be
the means, by God's providence, of bringing me much happiness, in dark
days turning sadness to joy and tears to smiles.
I owed the acquaintance to Firmin. He had been acting Saint-Mégrin in
the provinces and, one day, he came to my rooms, bringing with him
a magnificent "Duchesse de Guise," on whose behalf he solicited all
the influence I could bring to bear in theatrical circles. I began by
asking Firmin what amount of interest and what kind of interest he
took in his protégée. I have ever been careful to respect the various
protégées of my friends; and the question was of some importance with
reference to this beautiful woman.
Firmin replied that his interest in her was entirely artistic, and that
my own might assume what form I pleased.
I had then only gone so far as to notice the beautiful duchesse from
the point of view of her stage qualifications. Her hair was jet black,
and her eyes were a deep blue, her nose as straight as that of the
Venus de Milo and her teeth like pearls. I need hardly say that I
placed myself entirely at her disposal. Unfortunately, or fortunately,
the time for entering into theatrical engagements was over; this takes
place in April, and Madame Mélanie S---- was only presented to me in
the month of May. I was therefore unsuccessful in my introduction on
her behalf; but, as the beautiful duchesse saw that it was through no
fault of mine, she did not take umbrage at my failure. I even persuaded
her to remain on in Paris: she was young and could wait; opportunities
were sure to come her way if she were on the spot and ready to seize
them; moreover, if such occasion did not come unasked, I would arrange
to bring them about. I had already at that time sufficient reputation
to get the doors of a theatre opened wide for any man or woman to whom
I handed a signed note addressed to the manager.
Meanwhile, following the example of the Abbé Vertot, I began my siege.
I thought for the moment that I was to have nine years, as Achilles
before Troy! But I was mistaken; it only lasted three weeks, as did
the siege of the Duc d'Orléans before Anvers. If my readers be frank,
they will admit that which our French engineers have admitted loudly
in their praises of General Chassé's tactics: a resistance of three
weeks is an honourable one; there are but few places, no matter how
strongly fortified, that can hold out so long. Now, mine had held out
as long and, as it had only been taken by surprise in the end, it had
not therefore been stipulated among the articles of capitulation,
that I should be forbidden to leave Paris merely on the grounds of
curiosity. I have already stated how great my curiosity had been to see
Algiers just after its capture, and how a still stronger feeling of
curiosity induced me to alter my plans. Then, too, I ought to confess
another thing, which I remember, far off though that day is from the
time during which the events I am relating happened, namely, that my
insatiable curiosity to see Algiers came over me in a moment of ill
temper; that, directly the mood passed, I was equally pleased to find
an excuse for staying in Paris, as I had been, at the time, for going.
Achille Comte and I came down at one o'clock and took a few turns
together along the quays; then, as there seemed no appearance of any
excitement, he left me, and we arranged to meet again next day. I
went to the Palais-Royal, where I hoped to have gained intelligence;
but nothing was known there: the Duc d'Orléans was at Neuilly and
the Duc de Chartres at Joigny, at the head of his regiment; M. de
Broval was at Villiers, and nobody had seen anything of Oudard. So
I went to the café du Roi. Its principal frequenters were, it will
be recollected, the editors of the _Foudre_, of the _Drapeau blanc_,
and of the _Quotidienne_, all Royalist journals. They applauded the
measure highly. Lassagne alone appeared anxious about it. I did not
join much in the conversation, as all these men, Théaulon, Théodore
Anne, Brissot, Rochefort and Merle held different views from my own,
but were my personal friends. I have a perfect horror of disputing
with my friends, and much prefer to fight a duel with any of them. For
I always held the conviction that, before twenty-four hours had gone,
such dispute would end in pistols.
Whilst I was in the café du Roi Étienne, Arago entered. Our friendship
dated, as I have mentioned, from the time when he took notice of
my _Ode au général Foy_ and my _Nouvelles contemporaines_, in _la
Lorgnette_ and _le Figaro._ But on this particular day there was
another reason for our seeking one another--our political opinions were
the same. We went out together at half-past one and, at two o'clock,
his brother François was to make a speech at the Academy. As Étienne
had a spare ticket, he proposed I should accompany him. I had never
seen more of the _Institut_ than its exterior, and thought it might
be a long while before I had such a good chance again of seeing the
inside of it, so I accepted his invitation. At the beginning of the
Pont des Arts we met a barrister friend of ours--Mermilliod, I think.
At the first news of the Ordinances, five or six journalists and as
many deputies had assembled at the house of Maître Dupin to ask the
famous lawyer if there were any means of publishing newspapers without
authority; but, instead of solving the problem, the lawyer contented
himself with answering--
"Messieurs, the Chamber is dissolved--I am therefore no longer a
deputy...."
And no matter how they tried, the journalists and deputies could not
get any more out of him. The journalists had gone away in a furious
rage; the editors of the _Courrier français_, _Journal du Commerce_
and the _Journal de Paris_ declared they would appeal, in the first
instance, to M. de Belleyme, President of the Tribunal, for an order
calling upon the printers to lend their presses for the printing of the
unauthorised newspapers. But it seemed pretty hopeless to expect M. de
Belleyme to issue any decree, when M. Dupin had refused to grant even
a simple consultation touching the event of the moment! Nevertheless,
all these proceedings clearly indicated the beginning of resistance.
Étienne, for his part, asserted that his brother would not now give his
lecture, urging the gravity of the political situation as the reason
for his abstention.
The courage and patriotism of François Arago were too well known
for this opinion (which was put forth by his brother) to be thought
extraordinary. When we reached the _Institut_ we found a great
commotion and excitement among the usually calm and collected
immortals, in their blue coats braided with green. Their meeting had
not yet begun. A rumour had spread abroad that Arago would not speak,
and some of the Academicians said that he would, because he was much
too straightforward a man to compromise the Academy by his silence.
"Will he speak or will he not?" I inquired of Étienne.
"We will find out," he replied. "There he is, out there."
"Ah!" I said, "isn't he talking to the Duc de Raguse?"
"Yes; the Duc de Raguse is one of his oldest friends."
"Let us push forward, then.... I am very anxious to know what
the subscriber to the capitulation of Paris has to say about the
subscribers to the Ordinances."
"By Jove!" Étienne replied, "he will say that they have undone to-day,
26 July 1830, all he did on 30 March 1814!"
We continued our course, but it was no easy matter to thread our way
through the midst of an illustrious crowd, to whom one had to offer at
least one apology for each push of the elbow. By the time we reached
François Arago, the duke was already some distance away from him.
"You have just left Marmot," Étienne asked; "what does he say?"
"He is furious! He says they are the type of people who fling
themselves in the very teeth of ruin, and he only hopes he won't be
obliged to draw swords on their behalf."
"Good!" I said; "he only needs to do that to make himself popular."
"And what have you to say about it?" Étienne asked his brother.
"I? Oh! I should not speak."
Cuvier was going by. He had just happened to catch these words in
passing, and he stopped.
"What! you won't speak?" he exclaimed.
"No," Arago replied,
"Quite right, too!" interpolated Étienne.
"Look here, my dear fellow, come aside with me and let us talk
reasonably," said Cuvier.
He drew François Arago away to a distance from us. We could judge, from
the spot where we stood, of the animated discussion that ensued by
the vivacity of their gestures. M. Villemain joined the two speakers
and seemed to be taking Cuvier to task. Several other Academicians,
whom I did not know by sight, and, perhaps, not even by name,
surrounded Arago, and, contrary to M. Villemain, seemed to be insisting
with Cuvier that Arago should speak. After a quarter of an hour's
discussion, it was settled that Arago should speak. Now, this decision
had been arrived at by a majority of votes, so to speak, and it would
have been impossible for the famous astronomer to withstand the wishes
of the majority of his confrères, who all loudly declared that they
would regard his silence as contentious. He passed by us as he went to
his place.
"Well, you are going to speak after all?" Étienne said to him.
"Yes, but set your mind at rest," he replied; "I assure you, by the end
of my speech, they will think it would have been as well if I had not
opened my mouth."
"What the dickens can he find to say about Fresnel?" I asked Étienne.
It was in praise of Fresnel that he was to speak.
"Oh!" replied Étienne, "I am not alarmed on that score. If it were
about the Grand Turk, he would manage to squeeze in what he wanted to
say."
And Arago, taking as his subject the clever engineer of bridges and
embankments, the learned physician, the severe examiner of the École
polytechnique, the famous inventor of lenticular lighthouses, actually
found means of throwing fiery allusions upon the burning political
situation, which were received by the assembly with frantic applause.
Cuvier and the other Academicians who had insisted that Arago should
speak were right; only, they were right according to our point of view,
not from their own.
Arago's lecture was a splendid triumph. Indeed, it is impossible for
any speaker to be more picturesque, grander or more striking than
François Arago in the tribune when carried away by genuine passion; he
would throw up his head and shake back his locks--locks dark in colour
in 1830, grey in 1848. Whether he were attacking the violators of the
Royalist charter or defending the Republican constitution, he was ever
the same eloquent orator, ever the inspired poet, the same convinced
legislator. For Arago is not only science, he is conscience itself;
he is not only genius, but the soul of honour. Let us state this in
passing; though I know that plenty of others will say the same, yet I
should like to be among their number.
When I left the Institut, I went upstairs to see Madame Chassériau,
who lived at the Academy, owing to the position which her father, M.
Amaury Duval, occupied there. Madame Chassériau, who, later, was called
Madame Guyet-Desfontaines, was one of my oldest friends: I think I have
already spoken of her and said that at her house, as well as at those
of Nodier and Zimmermann, I always felt in the best intellectual form.
Do not let me be misunderstood: I am not paying myself a compliment,
I am only rendering justice to Madame Guyet-Desfontaines. She was so
good and kind and affable, and laughed so prettily, had such lovely
teeth, one would be a downright idiot not to show in her company a
wit at least equal to her own. She, too, like everybody else, was
full of the events taking place: she would soon receive news, as M.
Guyet-Desfontaines had gone to consult that great testing thermometer
of the Parisian mind, the Bourse. The Bourse was in a state of uproar,
Three Per Cents, had fallen from seventy-eight francs to seventy-two.
Was it not curious that, on the same day and at the same moment, the
Academy and the Stock Exchange, knowledge and money, should both cry
"Anathema" and be of the same opinion?
I went to dine at Véfour's. As I crossed the gardens of the
Palais-Royal, I noticed some excitement going on among a group of
youths who were mounted on chairs reading the _Moniteur_ aloud; but
their imitation of Camille Desmoulins did not meet with much success.
After my dinner, I ran to Adolphe de Leuven, whose father was, as my
readers know, one of the principal editors of the _Courrier._ Madame
de Leuven was very uneasy about her husband, who had left home at two
o'clock in the afternoon and had not returned by seven in the evening.
She had sent Adolphe to find out about him, but, like the raven from
the Ark, he too had not returned. So I, in my turn, went in pursuit of
Adolphe. M. de Leuven had not come in because there had been a meeting
at the office of the _Courrier français_, and Adolphe had not come back
because he had been sent to Laffitte's. They were drawing up a protest
in the name of the Charter, in the offices of the _Courrier_, which was
to be signed by all the journalists. With regard to the form resistance
was to take, they, at present, merely talked of refusing to pay the
taxes. Suddenly Châtelain came in triumphant. M. de Belleyme had just
issued a decree bidding the printers to print the suspended newspapers.
Everyone in the political world was acquainted with Châtelain; he
was one of the most honourable men on the press, and one of the rare
number who held Republican views in 1830. He formally declared that
the _Courrier français_ would appear next morning, even if on his own
responsibility alone. Adolphe de Leuven was the next to enter: he had
found Laffitte's doors closed. I returned to give this news to Madame
de Leuven; unfortunately, it was not such peaceful information as that
of the dove, and I was bringing anything but an olive branch back with
me; but I was able to reassure her about her husband and son: both were
safe and sound and would return home as soon as the protest had been
drawn up. We say _drawn up_, instead of _signed_, because the question
whether the protest should be signed or not was debated for a long
time. Some asserted that there was an unplumbed force in the press
which was increased by a mystery. These urged that it should not be
signed. Others, on the contrary, declared that it would be much better
to make the act of opposition a public one, and to sign the protest
with names in full. It was a singular thing that it was MM. Baude and
Coste, two bold sportsmen, who wanted to preserve anonymity; and M.
Thiers, the cautious politician, who wished it to be signed openly.
The opinion of M. Thiers carried the day. By midnight the last page of
the protest was covered with forty-five signatures. They were those of
MM. Gauja, Thiers, Mignet, Carrel, Chambolle, Peysse, Albert Stapfer,
Dubochet and Rolle, of the _National_; Leroux, Guizard, Dejean and de
Rémusat, of the _Globe_; Senty, Haussman, Dussart, Busoni, Barbaroux,
Chalas, Billard, Baude and Coste, of the _Temps_; Guyet, Moussette,
Avenel, Alexis de Jussieu, Châtelain, Dupont and de la Pelouze, of the
_Courrier français_; Année, Cauchois-Lemaire and Évariste Dumoulin, of
the _Constitutionnel_; Sarrans junior, of the _Courrier de Électeurs_;
August Fabre and Ader, of the _Tribune des départements_; Levasseur,
Plagnol and Fazy, of the _Révolution_; Larreguy and Bert, of the
_Journal du Commerce_; Léon Pillet, of the _Journal de Paris_; Bohain
and Roqueplan, of the _Figaro_; Vaillant, of the _Sylphe._
Lest my readers should be surprised at my giving here all the
forty-five names, I would point out that they were the names of
forty-five men all of whom risked their heads by signing. While I,
who risked nothing at all, but would have asked nothing better than
to run some such risk, simply returned to my rooms at eleven o'clock,
after first taking care to go and give news of myself at No. 7 rue de
l'Université. They thought I had left for Algiers!
CHAPTER III
The morning of July 27--Visit to my mother--Paul
Foucher-_Amy Robsart_--Armand Carrel--The office
of the _Temps_--Baude--The Commissary of Police--The
three locksmiths--The office of the _National_--Cadet
Gassicourt--Colonel Gourgaud--M. de Rémusat--Physiognomy of
the passers-by
I returned home in order to keep my entire freedom of action for the
morrow. I meant to visit my mother first thing in the morning: I had
not seen her for two days and feared she would be uneasy, especially
if she had heard what was happening outside. My poor mother, at that
time, was living in the rue de l'Ouest. I think I have previously
stated that we chose this new home for her so that she could be nearer
to the Villenave family, who had left the rue de Vaugirard, and were
living next door to her. But, unluckily, just when my mother had needed
neighbourly help the most, Madame Villenave and Madame Waldor and Élisa
(my mother's most faithful companion, with her cat, Mysouf) had gone to
la Vendée, where they owned a little country place called la Jarrie,
three leagues from Clisson. I found my mother in the most perfect state
of tranquillity of mind and body; no rumour of passing events had yet
penetrated into that Thébaïd called the quartier du Luxembourg. I
breakfasted with her, kissed her and left her in her sweet, undisturbed
quiet.
As I went away, I ran across Paul Foucher. He was returning
from his brother-in-law, Victor Hugo's, who lived in the rue
Notre-Dame-des-Champs, and to whom he had been to announce that he had
to give a reading the following day, of what play or at what particular
theatre, I know not. Paul Foucher was then the same short-sighted,
absent-minded fellow that he still is, knocking indifferently into
passers-by, posts and trees, on which he always seemed to be looking
for the bills of the theatres where his pieces were being played;
absorbed in the train of thought that preoccupied him at the moment
you met him, and incapable of entering into yours, or of coming out
of his own, into which he would lead you back again and again. His
dominant thought when I met him that morning was the reading he was
to give next day. Paul Foucher, young though he was, had made quite a
sensational entry into the dramatic life. The year before, a piece of
which he was said to be the author had been played at the Odéon, but
its great beauty, a beauty of an eccentric character and ill adapted to
the stage, had hastened its failure, and the failure, though great, was
glorious, the kind of failure that brings to light a man's qualities,
just as certain defeats reveal the character of a nation. Paul Foucher
had had his Poitiers, his Agincourt and his Crécy, and could take his
stand accordingly. The play was called _Amy Robsart_, and was taken
from, or, rather, inspired by, Walter Scott's romance of _Kenilworth_.
The day after its failure, Hugo proclaimed himself its author; but the
honour of the only representation it had was none the less inseparably
associated with Paul Foucher. The play was never printed. Hugo made
me a present of the manuscript later; I daresay I have it still in my
possession. I tried in vain to get any information out of Paul: he knew
but one piece of news, and did not consider either the political or
literary world needed to know any other. This news was that next day he
was to read a play in five acts. I saw the moment coming when he was
about to anticipate the right of the Committee and read me his play.
But the reading of the finest drama the world ever saw would not have
consoled me for losing the smallest detail of the play which Paris was
at that moment putting on the stage. I leapt into a cab and escaped
from the reading. I gave the driver Carrel's address.
Since the present crisis had arisen, Carrel was looked upon by the
younger members of the Opposition as their leader, elected, if not
publicly, at least by tacit consent. I had become acquainted with
Armand Carrel at M. de Leuven's, who, since the return to France of
the young political exile, after the coronation of Charles X., had
placed him on the editorial staff of the _Courrier_; he lived, if
I remember rightly, in the rue Monsigny or near by. As he died in
1836, he is already, to the young generation of between twenty and
twenty-five years of age, but a historical figure. At the time of
which we are now speaking, he was a man of twenty-eight, of medium
height, with a calm and retreating forehead, dark hair, small, lively,
flashing eyes, a long sharp nose, thin and rather pale lips, with white
teeth and a bilious complexion. Although Carrel professed the most
advanced of Liberal opinions, as is often the case with men of great
intellect and of refined organisation, he had the most aristocratic
habits imaginable, and this made the contrast between his words and
his appearance very strange. He almost invariably wore patent leather
boots, a black cravat tied tight round his neck, a black frock-coat
buttoned up all but the last button, a waistcoat of white piqué or
of chamois leather and grey trousers. His whole get-up revealed the
military style of the former officer. This warlike quality had, to some
extent, passed from Carrel's body into his mind. Charlemagne signed
his treaties with the pommel of his sword and enforced them with its
point; and so with Carrel: his articles always seemed to have been
written with a steel point, similar to those used by the ancients,
which left deep traces of sharpness on their tablets of wax. But
Carrel's polemical style of writing was very fine, noble and frank;
he boldly showed his front to his enemies: it was in some way similar
both to Pascal's and Paul-Louis Courier's. He had received but little
historical education, except about our neighbours across the Channel;
he was secretary to Augustin Thierry while he wrote his fine book on
the Conquest of England by the Normans (_Conquête de l'Angleterre par
les Normands_). Carrel, with his usual earnestness, had picked up
the crumbs that fell from that sumptuous table, and had compiled an
abridged History of England. We were good enough friends, although,
perhaps, we were not quite just to one another; he looked upon me as
too much of a poet, and I looked upon him as too much of a soldier.
I found him quietly engaged eating his breakfast. He had signed the
protest as a duty; risking his head as coolly at the point of the pen
as he had already done several times at the point of the sword, though
believing in nothing but lawful methods of resistance. As for armed
resistance, he would have nothing to do with it. He had meant to stay
at home all day to work; but, upon my entreaties, and, owing to my
telling him I thought I had seen some rising excitement in the streets,
he decided to go out with me. He put a pair of small pistols in his
pocket, of the kind called pocket pistols, took a little whalebone
cane in his hand as flexible as a horsewhip, and we went down together
towards the boulevards. Doubtless cooled by his action at Béfort and
Bidassoa, he hesitated to put himself forward when so many people
were seen to hang back. We tramped the boulevards from the rue de la
Chaussée-d'Antin to the rue Neuve-Vivienne, and then we went along the
Place de la Bourse. People were rushing in the direction of the rue de
Richelieu. They reported that the offices of the _Temps_ were invaded,
and being sacked by a detachment of mounted police.
Of course, needless to relate, we, too, followed the crowd; there was,
as usual, but a portion of truth in the rumour. A score of police
were drawn up in line in front of the building where the printing was
carried on, which stood at the bottom of a very large courtyard. The
street door was closed and, before they could invade the workshops,
they were waiting for the arrival of the Commissaire de Police. When he
arrived, Baude, one of the editors of the _Temps_, and signers of the
protest, gave orders to close the workshop door and to open the one on
the street. The Commissaire, wearing his white scarf of office, knocked
at the door exactly as it was being opened, and Baude and he stood face
to face. The Commissaire stepped back before the formidable apparition.
Baude was a magnificent figure of a man, not only in general appearance
but in every detail of his person. He was a giant of five feet eight or
ten inches, with thick black hair which floated round his head like a
mane; his eyes were brown and deeply set beneath dark eyebrows: they
seemed, at certain moments, to shoot out lightning; he had a rough,
tremendous voice which, heard amid the noise of a revolution, sounded
like thunder in a storm. Baude was followed by other editors and by
employés and workmen, who formed up behind him in a body of thirty
persons. When they saw the bare-headed, pale-faced leader and the set
faces of the workmen, they guessed that, beneath the legal resistance
which Baude had called to his aid, lay a very real and material
resistance, namely, one that meant resistance with arms. I squeezed
Carrel's arm; he was very pale and seemed greatly moved, but he kept
quite mute and shook his head in sign of disapproval. There was such a
dead silence throughout the street, filled with, perhaps, a couple of
thousand people, that a child's breathing could have been heard. Baude
was the first to speak and to question the Commissaire.
"What do you want, monsieur? and why have you presented yourselves
before our printing house?"
"Monsieur," stammered the Superintendent of Police, "I have come in
consequence of the Ordinances...."
"To break up our presses, I suppose?" Baude questioned. "Well, then,
in the name of the Code, which is both anterior and superior to your
Ordinance, I call upon you to respect them!"
And Baude stretched forth a copy of the Code opened at the article on
_Effraction_ (Housebreaking). This weapon was, certainly, of a more
alarming and terrible nature than the presenting of pistols or swords,
but the Superintendent's orders had been perfectly clear.
"Monsieur," he said, "I am obliged to do my duty"; and, turning to one
of his men, he said, "Send somebody to find a locksmith."
"All right! I will wait till he comes," said Baude.
A murmur ran through the crowd. They began to understand that there,
in the open street, before the eyes of the crowd, under the gaze of
Providence, was going to take place one of the grandest spectacles
that it is given to human sight to behold--the resistance of law to
arbitrary force, of the individual to the crowd, of conscience to
tyranny.
Not a man among the spectators had said to Baude, "You can count on my
support"; but it was apparent that he felt he could reckon on all.
The locksmith arrived; and, at the order of the Superintendent, he was
just going to cross the threshold of the street door, in order to go
and open the doors of the printing house with his tools, when Baude,
stopping him, by gently taking hold of his arm, said--
"My friend, you probably do not know what risks you are running by
obeying the orders of the Superintendent of Police? You are running the
risk of being sent to the galleys." And he read in a loud voice the
following lines:--
"Any person will be punished with penal servitude who is
guilty of, or accomplice in, theft committed by means of
breaking into a house or room or lodging dwelt in or serving
as a dwelling-house by means of breaking in from without by
scaling or by using false keys, whether he assume the rank
of a public functionary or of a civil or military officer,
or after having put on the uniform or dress of a public
functionary or officer, or alleging a false order of the
civil or military authorities."
As Baude read on, the locksmith raised his hand to his cap and, by the
end of the article, he was listening to the reader with bared head.
At this token of respect shown to the law by a man of the people the
crowd broke out into immense applause. The Commissaire insisted, and
the locksmith, obeying his authoritative commands, made an attempt at
entrance. Baude drew back and made way for him.
"Do it!" he said, "but you know that it will mean the galleys for you."
The locksmith again stopped and the cheering redoubled. The
Superintendent renewed his orders to pick the locks of the doors.
"Messieurs," Baude cried in a loud voice, "I appeal against M. le
Commissaire to a jury, and from the Ordinances to the Assizes.... Who
will give me their names as witnesses of the outrage offered to me?"
Five hundred voices simultaneously responded. Pencils and papers were
instantly circulated among the crowd with wonderful eagerness and
unanimity; each took the pencil in turn and wrote down his name and
address on the paper. Then all were handed in to Baude.
"You see for yourself, monsieur," he said to the Superintendent of
Police, "I have plenty of witnesses."
"Upon my word, Monsieur le Commissaire," the locksmith finally said to
that officer of the law, "get somebody else to do your job, I back out
of it."
And, putting his cap on his head, he withdrew. He was accompanied by
vivats and more applause.
"Force, however, still must rest with the law!" retorted the
Superintendent.
"I am beginning to believe, indeed, that it will," Baude replied
ironically.
"Oh, I know my business," the officer replied. "Call another locksmith."
An official in black appeared from the crowd as before, and returned
with a locksmith carrying a bunch of picklocks at his waist. The
applause that had accompanied the retreat of the other man changed
quickly to groans as this fresh one appeared. The locksmith was
frightened.
As he made his way through the crowd he slipped his bunch of picklocks
into the hand of one of the spectators, who passed it on to the next
man, and so on through the crowd. When he had reached the door, the
order previously given to his colleague was renewed.
"Monsieur le Commissaire," he said, pointing to his empty girdle, "I
cannot do it: my tools have been stolen from me."
"You lie!" exclaimed the Commissaire, "and I will have you arrested!"
The hand of one of his men was stretched out to seize him, but the
crowd opened a way for him and then closed up after him, wrapped him
in its folds and engulfed him completely in its stream. He disappeared
literally as though he had been devoured!
They then summoned the blacksmith whose duty it was to rivet the
convict's fetters. But, as the opposition of the crowd began to assume
a grave character, and looked dark and threatening, the street was
cleared with the help of the police.
The crowd withdrew by way of the place Louvois and the arcade Colbert,
and by the rue de Ménars, shouting--
"Vive la Charte!"
Men climbed upon posts, waved their hats and cried out to Baude--
"You may rely on us--you have our addresses. We will be witnesses for
you. _Au revoir! au revoir!_"
A reinforcement of police seen coming from the direction of the
Palais-Royal completed the clearing of the street. But what did that
matter? The moral victory remained with the Opposition, and Baude had
played as great a part as any ghostly Revolutionist of 1789.
Carrel and I left the rue de Richelieu and went to the _National_
offices. The _National_ had scarcely been in existence a year then; it
had been started by Thiers, Carrel and the Abbé Louis, at the château
de Rochecottes, at the feet of Madame de Dino, under the eye of M. de
Talleyrand. The Duc d'Orléans, who had lent the necessary funds, paid,
as it were, for the nursing of this infant Hercules, which, eighteen
years later, was to seize him round his waist and suffocate him. These
offices were situated in the rue Neuve-Saint-Marc, at the corner of the
place des Italiens. We found it a hotbed of news. The evening before
one of the editors had come in, out of spirits and broken down: he had
been scouring the poorest quarters, which are always the easiest to
stir up, and, shaking his head, he had pronounced these discouraging
words:--
"The people will not be moved!"
And when we entered the _National_ offices at two o'clock the people
were still quiet; but one could feel that kind of shiver of excitement
in the air which made people hurry in their walk and grow paler, they
knew not why; like the deep, instinctive terror felt by animals at the
approach of an earthquake.
From whence arose this shuddering, which was but yet, as it were,
upon the surface of society? It is easy to make a guess. The motion
of M. Thiers, which had borne forty-five signatures at the foot of
the journalists' protest (it had been published in the _Globe_, the
_National_, and the _Temps_, and a hundred thousand copies had,
perhaps, been printed and distributed in the streets), this motion,
we say, had compromised forty-five persons. Now, these forty-five
individuals made up a compact body working upon the masses, and each
also was a separate force, working upon individual members of society.
Each signature was the centre of a more or less wide circumference
of friends, employés, clerks, workmen, compositors, journeymen and
printers' devils. Each one stirred up his own particular circle, and
each individual member of this circle, however humble, was himself
an agent and used his influence on his subordinates; therefore, as
soon as the impulse was given, it was communicated from great centres
to small, the wheels began to turn, and one felt society tremble
under the throbbing of an invisible machine, almost as one feels a
windmill quiver from the revolution of its sails or a steamboat from
the beating of its paddles. Carrel was invited to three different
meetings, all for the purpose of organising opposition. One was purely
of a Liberal character, bordering on Republicanism, and was held in
the rue Saint-Honoré in the house of the chemist Cadet de Gassicourt;
the principal members were Thiers, Charles Teste, Anfous, Chevalier,
Bastide, Cauchois-Lemaire and Dupont; at this one they discussed a
motion as to creating a committee of resistance in every arrondissement
(ward), with power to put itself into direct communication with the
deputies. The second was Bonapartist, and was held at the house
of Colonel Gourgaud. It was chiefly composed, first and foremost,
of the master of the house, then of Colonels Dumoulin, Dufays and
Plavet-Gaubet, and of Commandant Bacheville. Their object was to try
and promote the affairs of Napoleon II., but, as all these men were
more men of action than of thought, nothing was settled, and they
fixed another meeting for the next day at the place des Petits-Pères.
The third meeting took place in the _Globe_ offices and was composed
of Pierre Leroux, Guizard, Dejean, Paulin and Rémusat, and of several
persons who had nothing to do with the staff of the paper. Here, the
most conflicting counsels were put forth: some wanted to appeal to arms
on the morrow, others were horrified at the pace at which, as soon as
any movement is started, it descends, in spite of everything, down the
path that leads to revolution.
M. de Rémusat was one of the scared.
He exclaimed, in despairing tones, "Where are you going? Where are you
urging us? It must on no account lead us to revolution--that is not
what we desire: legal resistance, well and good--but nothing beyond."
Of course, this meeting did not decide on a course of action any more
than the others, unless it drove M. de Rémusat to his bed with the
fever which seized him afterwards.
Carrel did not attend any of these three meetings. He was in favour
of lawful resistance stretched to its widest limits, but of lawful
resistance only. He did not believe in any good arising out of any
conflict between citizens and soldiers: he understood the meaning of
pretorian revolutions and demanded of those who talked of resorting to
arms--
"Have you any regiment you can safely count on?"
No one had regiments ready, seeing that no plot had been prepared. But
there was, none the less, a great and formidable general conspiracy
afoot, namely public opinion, which accused the Bourbons of being
responsible for the defeat of 1815 and wanted to avenge Waterloo in the
streets of Paris.
This conspiracy was visible in the eyes, gestures, words and even in
the very silence of the people whom one passed, the groups one met, the
solitary individuals who stopped, hesitating whether to go to the right
or left, as though saying to themselves, "Where is anything going on?
Where are they doing anything? I must go and do just what the rest are
doing."
CHAPTER IV
Doctor Thibaut--The Government of Gérard and
Mortemart--Étienne Arago and Mazue, the Superintendent of
Police--The café Gobillard--Fire at the guard-house in the
place de la Bourse--The first barricades--The night
We went back to the boulevards again from the office of the _National._
At the top of the rue Montmartre we heard what sounded like firing, in
the direction of the Palais-Royal. It was nearly seven o'clock in the
evening.
"Hah! What is that?" I asked Carrel.
"By Jove!" he answered, "it was a volley being fired."
"Well, will you come along and see?"
"Good gracious no!" he replied. "I shall turn in home."
"I mean to go," I said.
"Go, then; but don't be fool enough to get drawn into things!"
"No fear. Adieu!"
"Adieu!"
Carrel walked away with his calm and measured step, along the faubourg
Montmartre, whilst I dashed off at a run for the place de la Bourse.
I had not gone fifty yards before I met Dr. Thibaut. He looked very
important.
"Ah! it is you, dear friend?" I said. "What is the news?"
Thibaut, who had adopted great gravity of expression, claiming that
no doctor could make his way in the world without it, was, on this
occasion, more than grave: he was gloomy.
"Bad news!" he replied; "things are getting horribly complicated."
"But are they fighting?" I said,
"Yes; one man has been killed in the rue du Lycée and three more in the
rue Saint-Honoré.... The Lancers charged in the rue de Richelieu and
upon the place du Palais-Royal.... A barricade was being run up in the
rue de Richelieu, but it was taken before it was finished."
"Where are you bound for?"
"You will hear that to-morrow, if I am successful," he said.
"Upon my word, my dear fellow, you assume the airs of a diplomatist."
"Who knows?--I may be going to form a new Government!"
"In your calling as a doctor, my dear friend, I would invite you to
give your whole attention to the old Ministry, for it seems to me
deuced ill!"
Two young people passed us by rapidly at this moment.
"A tricoloured flag?" said one. "Surely it is not possible!"
"I tell you I saw it myself," the other replied.
"Where?"
"On the quai de l'École."
"When?"
"Half an hour ago."
"What did they do to the man who was bearing it?"
"Nothing ... they just let him pass."
"Let us go there, then."
"All right."
And they ran off down the rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires.
"You see, my dear fellow," I said to Thibaut, "things are getting warm!
Go off to your Ministry, my friend."
"I am going."
He went away in the direction of the boulevard des Capucines.
Thibaut had not deceived me. He was actually engaged in forming a
Ministry; only, his Ministry was not destined to die of longevity. It
was the Ministry of Gérard and Mortemart, which had its counterpart
in the Thiers and Odilon Barrot Ministry of the Revolution of 1848.
But, it will be urged, how could Dr. Thibaut form a Ministry? As for
that--well, I will tell you.
It will be remembered that, in 1827 or 1828, Madame de Celles, daughter
of General Gérard, who was suffering from a chest complaint, had asked
Madame de Leuven to tell her of a young medical man who could accompany
her to Italy, and that Thibaut's name had been given her. He had made
the journey with the beautiful invalid, and the combined results of
travel and doctor worked wonders in her health. On their return, the
general was so grateful for the care Thibaut had bestowed upon his
daughter that he admitted him into personal intimacy in his household.
Thibaut, when I met him, was on his way to call upon M. le Baron de
Vitrolles, on behalf of General Gérard, to try and persuade him to urge
conciliatory measures upon M. de Polignac and, if that failed, upon the
king himself. Serious-minded people were evidently beginning to realise
the gravity of the situation. This was the information which Thibaut
could not tell me when we met, but which he divulged to me later.
Eight o'clock chimed out from the Bourse clock; I wanted to get back
to my faubourg Saint Germain; but, as I entered one end of the rue
Vivienne, I saw bayonets at the other. I could have gone by the rue
des Filles-Saint-Thomas, but curiosity kept me back. I beat a retreat
as far as the café of the théâtre des Nouveautés. As far as I can
recollect, it was kept by a man named Gobillard, an excellent fellow,
a favourite with us all. The troop advanced with regular step, taking
up the whole width of the street, pushing men, women and children
before them. The people, driven by the soldiers, gave way and walked
backwards, shouting--
"Vive la ligne!"
Women waved their handkerchiefs from the open windows, crying--
"Do not fire on the people!"
There was a certain type among the men whom the soldiers were driving
aside which is only to be seen at special hours of the day--the kind
of men who start riots and revolutions, men whom one might style the
pioneers of disorder. When the troops reached the place de la Bourse
they deployed, but, as they could not cover the whole width of the
square, a portion of those who were being pushed along by the soldiers
overflowed on both sides and swept back after them. Now, there was near
the Bourse a rickety old wooden shanty which was used as a guard-house.
The regiment left about a dozen soldiers there as in a block-house
and disappeared down the rue Neuve-Vivienne in the direction of the
Bastille. The regiment was scarcely out of sight when some boys from
the crowd came up to the soldiers who were left in the guard-house,
shouting--
"Vive la Charte!"
Whilst these lads did no more than shout, the soldiers kept their
patience, but stones soon followed the shoutings. A soldier, hit by
a stone, fired, and a woman fell--a woman of about thirty. Cries of
"Murder!" went up and, in a second, the square was emptied, lights
were extinguished and shops closed. The théâtre des Nouveautés alone
remained lighted and open,--they were playing _la Chatte blanche_,--and
those inside the house had no idea what was going on outside. A small
troop of about twelve men appeared, at that moment, from the rue des
Filles-Saint-Thomas. It was headed by Étienne Arago and was shouting--
"Stop the play! Close the theatres! They are killing people in the
streets of Paris!..."
It stumbled against the body of the woman who had been killed.
"Carry this corpse to the steps of the peristyle, so that everybody can
see it," said Étienne; "I am going to have the theatre emptied."
And, as a matter of fact, the place was emptied an instant later, the
stream of spectators, on coming out, spreading apart as a torrent does
before a rock, so as to avoid trampling upon the body. I ran to Arago.
"What are they doing," I asked. "What has been decided?"
"Nothing yet.... Barricades are being erected ... and women killed and
theatres closed, as you see."
"Where shall I find you again?"
"To-morrow morning at my house, No. 10 rue de Grammont."
Then, turning to the men who were with him--
"To the Variétés, my friends!" he said; "to close the theatres is to
hoist the black flag over Paris!"
And the little crowd disappeared with him down the rue de Montmorency.
It had passed before the sentinel and the barracks without producing
any sign. And this was how the movement had begun and from whence the
firing had come that Carrel and I had heard.
Étienne Arago (I hope I may be pardoned for always quoting the same
name, but I will engage to prove, beyond exception, that Étienne Arago
was the mainspring of the insurrectional movement), Étienne Arago, I
say, had just been dining with Desvergers and Varin and had returned
with them to the Vaudeville theatre, which was then in the rue de
Chartres, when a mob barred their way in the rue Saint-Honoré, in front
of the Delorme passage. They were saying that a man had been killed in
the rue du Lycée. A cart, loaded with rubble, was waiting to pass, as
soon as the mob had dispersed; four or five carriages, stopped by the
same obstruction, were waiting too, in file.
"Excuse me, my friend," Étienne said to the driver, unharnessing the
horse from the shafts; "we require your cart."
"What for?"
"To make a barricade with, to be sure!"
"Yes, yes, barricades--let us have barricades!" exclaimed several
voices.
And, in the twinkling of an eye, the horses were detached, the cart
thrown on its side and the contents piled up across the street.
"Good!" said Arago. "Now you won't need me any more; I am wanted
elsewhere."
And, leaving the barricade to be guarded by those who had helped in
its construction, he crossed the Delorme passage, went along the rue de
Rivoli and reached the Vaudeville. People were just going in.
"There shall be no play while fighting is going on!" he said; "give the
people back their money!"
Then, to those who persisted in going in--
"Pardon, messieurs," he said--"there shall be no laughing at the
Vaudeville whilst Paris is in tears."
And he began trying to shut the gate.
"Monsieur," a voice asked, "why are you closing the Vaudeville?"
"Why? ... Because I am the manager of the theatre and choose to close
it."
"Yes, but the Government does not choose to do so: in the name of the
Government I order you to leave it open!"
"Who are you?"
"Heavens! you know me well enough."
"Possibly, but I want those who are listening and taking part in this
debate to know who you are too."
"I am M. Mazue, Superintendent of Police."
"Well, then, Monsieur Mazue, Police Superintendent, look out for
yourself!" replied Arago, pushing against the grating; "those who do
not go will soon be crushed."
"Monsieur Arago, to-morrow you will be no longer manager of the
Vaudeville!"
"Monsieur Mazue, to-morrow you will no longer be the Superintendent of
Police."
"We shall see about that, Monsieur Arago!"
"I hope so, Monsieur Mazue!"
With the help of two scene-shifters, Étienne closed the grille, in
spite of the efforts of the police officers; then, leaving by the stage
door, he began the work of closing the other theatres--an act that had
an immense influence upon that evening's proceedings and upon those of
the next day.
All these details were related to us behind the carefully closed doors
of the café Gobillard. We were there to the number of three or four
and, as we had been rushing about the whole day, we were dying with
hunger. We ordered supper. The topic of our conversation can easily
be guessed. Some said that the agitation of the hour was of not more
significance than that of 1827, and that the riot had not strength
to rise to the proportions of a revolution, but would fail in like
manner. Others, and I among them, believed, on the contrary, that we
were but at the prologue of the comedy and that the morrow would show a
different state of things altogether. We were in the full flow of this
discussion when the sound of firing startled us and made us shudder.
It was fired in the square. Almost immediately there was a cry of "To
arms!" followed by a noise like that of a hand-to-hand combat.
"You see," I said, "the drama begins!"
It was now twenty minutes to ten by the café clock. We ran upstairs
to the first floor to look out of the windows. The guard-house had
been surprised, surrounded and attacked by a score of men. A struggle
was proceeding in the darkness, of which we could not make out any
details--nothing beyond a confused mass. The soldiers were defeated
and disarmed. Their guns, cartridge-pouches and swords had been taken
from them and they were sent away by the rue Joquelet; then some
fifteen were detached from the main body and picked up the corpse of
the woman, which still lay on the theatre steps, placed it on a litter
and went away down the rue des Filles-Saint-Thomas crying, "Vengeance!"
Three or four who were provided with a torch remained behind the
rest and, with this torch, lighted a bonfire of straw in the middle
of the guard-house; then they kicked down and broke up the planks it
was made of and let them fall into the bonfire. Of course, the planks
ignited very rapidly, and instantly the barrack was one vast blazing
mass; the three or four laggards left it to its fate and rejoined
their companions. The fire threw a lurid illumination over the square
and burned half the night without anyone attempting to extinguish
it. We went down and finished our supper, our thoughts very full of
what we had just witnessed. We separated towards midnight, and I took
the rue Vivienne; the Perron passage being closed, I went along the
rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs and the rue de Richelieu. In the rue de
l'Échelle, moving about through the darkness, were shadows which, when
I approached, cried, "Qui vive?" I replied, "A friend!" and walked
straight on. It was a barricade that was being silently raised, as
though built by some spirits of the night. I shook hands with several
of these nocturnal workmen and gained the Carrousel. Behind the château
gates I could see two or three hundred men camped in the court of the
Tuileries. I thought it must have been almost the same as this on the
night of the 9th to 10th of August 1790. I tried to peep through the
gates, but a sentinel cried "Keep off!" and I went on my way. On the
quays everything was resuming its normal appearance. I reached the rue
de l'Université without having met a single person either upon the
Pont Royal or in the rue du Bac. As soon as I reached my lodgings, I
opened my window and listened: Paris seemed silent and deserted; but
this tranquillity was but superficial, one felt that the solitude was
peopled and the silence alive!
CHAPTER V
The morning of the 27th--Joubert--Charles Teste--_La
Petite-Jacobinière_--Chemist Robinet--The arms used in
_Sergent Mathieu_--Pillage of an armourer's stores--The
three Royal Guards--A tall and fair young man--Oudard's fears
I was awakened, as on the 26th, by Achille Comte.
"Well?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"Oh, it is going ahead!" he said. "The Quartier des Écoles is in a
state of open insurrection, but the students are furious."
"Against whom?"
"Against the principal leaders--Laffitte, Casimir Périer and La
Fayette.... They called upon these persons yesterday: one told them to
keep quiet, whilst others did not even see them.... But Barthélemy and
Méry will give you full details; they were there, with their pockets
full of gunpowder which they had bought of a grocer."
I dressed, took a carriage to go and call on my mother and found
her as calm as if nothing extraordinary was happening in Paris. I
had given orders that she should be kept in ignorance, and they had
been carefully executed. When I left my mother, I drove to Godefroy
Cavaignac, who lived in the rue de Sèvres. He had gone out, but I was
told I should find him either at Joubert's the bookseller's, in the
passage Dauphine, or at Charles Teste's, at _la Petite-Jacobinière_, in
the place de la Bourse.
Joubert, who was afterwards aide-de-camp to La Fayette, I believe
lieutenant-colonel, was a former Carbonaro and a friend of Carrel;
condemned to death as the latter was, after the affair of Béfort, he
had escaped from the prisons of Perpignan by the help of a nun and two
of his friends, Fabre and Corbière.
Charles Teste, whom we all knew well, had built a bookshop in the
place de la Bourse, which was dubbed with the expressive name of
_Petite-Jacobinière_, because of the opinions of those who frequented
it. Charles Teste was one of the worthiest and noblest characters it
was possible to meet with. Being poor, he had quarrelled with his
richer brothers. During the reign of Louis-Philippe he would not take
up any profession, and goodness knows how he managed to live! When his
brother was condemned by the Court of Peers, he placed himself entirely
at his disposition, and became his support and comfort and strength.
Then, after the Revolution of 1848, all his old friends came in to
power, but he declined the posts that were offered to him, and the
only favour he asked was that his brother might be removed from prison
to a sanatorium. Charles Teste died, I think, eighteen months or two
years ago; when he drew his last breath France lost one of her greatest
citizens.
I drove first to the passage Dauphine, but Cavaignac had been there and
had gone out with Bastide, and it was thought that both had gone to _la
Petite-Jacobinière._ So I dismissed my cab, as I had a call to make at
No. 7 rue de l'Université. Here I had drawn no preventive cordon, as in
the case of my mother, and everything was known. I promised to regard
things from a spectator's standpoint and not to mix myself up in the
disturbance: on those conditions, I was allowed leave.
There was a large gathering in the rue de Beaune, at the house of a
chemist whose name was Robinet; it was composed of electors and members
of the National Guard of the 10th and 11th Arrondissement. All they
wanted was to start out on the warpath, but no one possessed arms.
"No arms?" asked Étienne Arago, who entered at this juncture. "If you
have no arms, there are plenty to be had at the armourers'!"
It was known at the _National_ offices and at _la Petite-Jacobinière_
that a meeting was going on in Robinet's house, and they had sent
Arago as a deputy. He had not wasted his time since the morning.
"No arms!" was the general cry at the _Petite-Jacobinière_ as elsewhere.
_Le Sergent Mathieu_ was then being played at the Vaudeville theatre,
and, consequently, there were about a score or so of rifles, swords and
powder-wallets lying among the property stores. Gauja and Étienne ran
off to the Vaudeville and put the weapons in wicker baskets which they
covered with sheets; they recruited porters and scene-shifters, whilst
they followed the procession, clad beneath their long coats in the
uniform of officers of the Imperial Guard. The place du Palais-Royal
was crowded with troops. A captain stepped out of the ranks and asked
the commissionaires: "What are you carrying there?"
"A wedding breakfast from Parly, Captain," Arago replied.
The captain began to laugh: the points of the swords and bayonets were
sticking through the basketwork. But he only turned his back on what he
saw, and returned to the ranks. Guns, swords and powder-flasks arrived
safely at _la Petite-Jacobinière_, where they were distributed. It was
as a consequence of this distribution of arms that Étienne had been
sent to Robinet's.
"At his words, "If you have no arms, there are plenty at the
armourers'!" everybody went out. Étienne ran to the nearest armourer
with Gauja and a man named Lallemand. The armourer lived in the rue de
l'Université. When I had pointed out to Étienne his shop, which was on
the left side of the rue de Beaune, I turned to the right, to fetch my
own gun. Étienne and Lallemand rushed in to the armourer's shop, which
was just being closed. Étienne was more lucky with the armourer than
he had been the previous day with the Superintendent of Police, and he
managed to enter the shop.
"My friend," he said, "do not be alarmed; we have not come to seize
your arms, but to purchase them."
He took five or six rifles, and kept one for himself, one for Gauja
and one for Lallemand, giving away the remainder. Then he emptied his
pockets, which contained 320 francs and, for the surplus expenditure,
he gave a draft on his brother François, of the Observatoire, who
paid religiously. Lallemand endorsed the bill. This Lallemand was a
well educated and highly cultivated young fellow whom we nicknamed
_le Docteur_, because he always talked so much Latin. I make this
explanation in order to avoid confusion with Professor Lallemand. They
also took powder and bullets from the same armourer and, as we shall
see, it was not long before they were required.
I had gone back home, called my servant Joseph and told him to put
me out my complete shooting costume. It was the most suitable and
convenient for the form of exercise to which we were going to apply our
energies; also, more important still, it was the least conspicuous.
I was half-way through my toilet when I heard a great uproar in the
rue du Bac and rushed to my window: it came from Étienne Arago and
Gauja, who were calling the people to arms. It will be remembered that
I lived above the café Desmares; but I forgot to mention that three
of my windows looked into the rue du Bac. At that moment, two mounted
policemen appeared from the bridge side, at the entrance of the street.
Why had they come there? What chance had brought them? We did not know
at all. When the crowd which filled the street caught sight of them,
loud cries were set up. Thereupon, the policemen seemed to confer
together; but, if they hesitated, it was only for a moment: they took
their bridles between their teeth, drew their sabres in one hand and
held their pistols in the other. The crowd was unarmed and ran into
side alleys or open shops or made off down the rue de Lille. Arago and
Gauja hid in corners of the street: one of them (I do not know which)
cried to the other--
"Come! it is time to begin!"
At the same moment, the two policemen pounced upon them at full gallop.
Two reports and flashes of firing came simultaneously from Étienne
and Gauja. Both had aimed at the same man and he fell pierced by
both bullets. They rushed to the gendarme stretched on the ground. He
was dying. The other policeman turned back. The riderless horse went
its own way and disappeared down the rue du Bac. They took his sabre,
pistol and powder-box from him and carried him to la Charité. When it
was seen that a wounded policeman was being brought into the hospital
and they learnt that he had been wounded because he charged at the
people, the patients were for finishing him off.
The spirit of revolution had actually penetrated into the hospitals!
Meanwhile, I had put on my jacket, picked up my gun, game-bag and
powder-horn, stuffed my pockets with shot and I gone downstairs. Arago
and Gauja had both disappeared. I was known in the district and people
collected round me.
"What must be done?" they inquired.
"Put up barricades!" I replied.
"Where?"
"One at each end of the rue de l'Université; the other across the rue
du Bac."
They brought me a crowbar and I set to the task by beginning to unpave
the street. Everybody clamoured for arms.
While this was going on drums were beating in the Tuileries garden.
Three soldiers of the Garde Royale appeared at the ii top of the rue du
Bac, from the direction of the rue Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin.
"Look here!" I said to those surrounding me, "you are asking for arms?
Nothing could be more opportune. See! here are three rifles coming
towards you; the only thing you have to do is to take them...."
"Oh, if that is all!" they said.
And they rushed towards the soldiers, who pulled up. I was the only man
armed in the crowd.
"My friends," I shouted to the soldiers, "give up your guns and no harm
shall be done you!"
They consulted for a moment, then gave up their guns. I kept the
soldiers covered with mine, prepared to kill the first man who should
make any hostile demonstration. The people took the guns, but these
were actually not loaded: hence, of course, arose the poor devils'
readiness to give them up. The people uttered loud shouts of triumph,
the battle had begun with a victory: one gendarme killed and three
soldiers of the Royal Guard made prisoners! True, we had to let our
captives go, because we did not know what to do with them.
We now went on with our barricades. A little group of students arrived
from the top of the rue de l'Université; a tall fair young man marched
at its head, dressed in an apple-green frock-coat. He was the only
one of the party who possessed a service gun. We fraternised and they
joined with us to work at the barricades. The close vicinity of the
barracks of the Gardes du Corps on the quai d'Orsay made us fearful of
an attack. It was quite impossible for the sentinel not to have heard
the two reports of a gun, not to have seen the police fly and not to
have raised the alarm. I was tired of turning up paving-stones, so gave
my pickaxe to the tall fair youth. He began to pick up the intermediate
space, but the crowbar was heavy, fell out of his hands and struck me
on the leg.
"Ah! monsieur," he cried, "I beg your pardon most profoundly, for I am
sure I must have hurt you badly!"
It was true enough, but there are moments when one does not feel pain.
"Never mind," I said to him; "it is on the bone."
He raised his head. "Do you happen to possess a ready wit?"
"By Jove!" I replied, "that's a fine question:' it is my business to
have one!"
"Would you favour me with your name?"
"Alexandre Dumas."
"Oh! monsieur!" (He held out his hand to me.) "My name is Bixio ...
Profession--medical student. If I get killed, here is my card; have the
goodness to see that I am carried home. If you are wounded, I will put
my scientific knowledge at your disposal."
"Monsieur, I hope that neither your card nor your knowledge will be
required; but, all the same, I will take the one and accept the other.
Take care to remember my name, if you please, as I will remember yours!"
We shook hands, and our friendship dated from that meeting.
The barricades finished, we left them to be guarded by those who had
helped to make them.
"Now, then," I said to Bixio, "where are you going?"
"I am going in the direction of Gros-Caillou."
"In that case, I will accompany you as far as the Chamber.... I want to
go and see what is happening at the _National._"
"What!" Bixio exclaimed. "Are you going like that, with your gun,
through the streets?"
"Certainly!" I replied; "you seem to me to be going to do just the
same."
"Yes, but only on this side of the Seine."
"Bah! I am in a shooting costume and not a fighting one."
"But shooting hasn't begun yet."
"All right, then; I will open the season."
However, as will be seen, I did not venture to cross the Tuileries
with my accoutrements: I went round by the place de la Révolution, I
crossed it without hindrance and went down the whole length of the rue
Saint-Honoré. The barricades in the rue de l'Échelle and the rue des
Pyramides had been broken down. When I reached the rue de Richelieu and
saw a regiment at the top of the place Louvois, from the other side of
the Palais-Royal a dense line of troops was visible, and a squadron
of Lancers was stationed in the place du Palais-Royal. There was no
passage left me unless I went back the way I had come. I found I was
nearly opposite my old offices, No. 216. So I went in and upstairs to
the first floor. There I found Oudard. He looked at me, hesitating
whether to recognise me.
"What! is that you?" he asked.
"No doubt about that."
"What are you doing here to-day?"
"I have come to see if I cannot meet the Duc d'Orléans."
"What do you want with him?"
I began to laugh.
"I want to address him as _Your Majesty_," I replied.
Oudard uttered a lamentable cry of distress.
"Unlucky fellow!" he said, "how can you utter such words? Suppose
anybody heard you!"
"Yes, but nobody will hear me--the duke least of all." "Why so?"
"Because I presume he is at Neuilly."
"The Duc d'Orléans is in his right place!" Oudard replied magisterially.
"My dear Oudard, as I am much less well versed in matters of etiquette
than yourself, allow me to inquire where the right place is?"
"Why, by the king's side, I suppose."
"Then," I said, "I present my compliments to His Highness."
At this moment drums began beating at the corner of the rue de
Richelieu, turning by the rue Saint-Honoré, and advancing towards the
Palais-Royal. Behind them came a general, surrounded by his staff of
officers. I could see them plainly through the chinks of the outside
blinds.
I felt a great desire to make Oudard sick with fear.
"Look here, Oudard," I said, "I am strongly of opinion that if I picked
off the general who is just passing it would considerably advance the
affairs of M. le Duc d'Orléans ... who is so near the king."
And I covered the general with my gun. Oudard became as pale as death
and flung himself upon my gun, which was not even cocked. I laughingly
showed him the hammer lowered on the nipple.
"Oh!" he said, "you will leave this place, will you not?"
"You must wait till the soldiers have filed past.... I cannot
reasonably attack, singlehanded, two or three thousand men."
Oudard sat down, and I laid my gun in a corner and opened the window
wide.
"What are you up to next?" he asked.
"I am going to amuse myself by watching the military pass by"; and I
watched them from beginning to end.
They went to the Hôtel de Ville, where warm fighting had begun. The
general in command, whom I had picked out to Oudard's extreme terror,
was General Wall.
I went back by the rue de Richelieu, behind the last ranks, with my gun
on my shoulder, as quietly as though I were going to the opening of the
shooting season, on the plains of Saint-Denis.
CHAPTER VI
The aspect of the rue de Richelieu--Charras--L'École
polytechnique--The head with the wig--The café of the
Porte Saint-Honoré--The tricoloured flag--I become head
of a troop--My landlord gives me notice--A gentleman who
distributes powder--The captain of the 15th Light Infantry
The rue de Richelieu wore a very strange aspect. Hardly had the
troops left the street before the insurgents audaciously entered it,
or, rather, issuing from every door, reigned there supreme. In all
directions the fleurs de lys were blotted out along with the royal
monogram, whilst everywhere the mottoes were daubed with mud. To the
cries of "_Vive la Charte!_" began to succeed those of "_A has les
Bourbons!_" Armed men appeared at the street corners, looking as though
in search of some centre of resistance or field of battle. From time
to time a shop door would open and, through the half-opened space,
a soldier of the Garde National in his uniform could be seen, still
hesitating to come out, but only awaiting the right moment to join
in the vast tumult. Women waved handkerchiefs out of the windows and
cried bravo to every man who appeared with a gun in his hand. Nobody
walked with his usual step, all ran. No one spoke as usual, they
jerked out half-finished expressions. A universal fever seemed to have
seized the population: it was a wonderful sight! The coldest and most
unsympathetic being would have been compelled to join in the general
excitement abroad.
I reached the _National_ offices and, at the door, I met Carrel in
conversation with Paulin.
"Ah!" I exclaimed, "there you are!... good. They told me you had left
Paris and were in the country with Thiers and Mignet, they even said
that you were in the valley of Montmorency."
"Who told you that?"
"As though I could remember!..." And, indeed, I could not have said who
had told me this bit of news, which had been given me, moreover, by way
of proving to me what little effect the leaders of the movement were
themselves having upon the so-called Revolution which was going on.
"There is some truth in the rumour," he said. "I really did go into the
country with Thiers, Mignet and another person whom I wished to place
in safety."
"Élisa?" I said heedlessly.
"Yes, my wife Élisa," Carrel emphasised; "but directly she was in a
place of safety I returned, and here I am."
Carrel was quite sincere in the few words he had just uttered. Those
who lived in intimate intercourse with Carrel knew the person I had
just called Élisa, whom, by way of reading me a lesson, he had called
his _wife._ He adored this lady, who was indeed adorable and the best
and most devoted of women! There existed between them one of those
liaisons that society proscribes but the heart respects--a love which
redeems the fault committed by such virtue that out of a sinner it
creates a saint. What became of this poor noble creature after Carrel's
death? I have no idea; but I know that when I heard of the terrible
accident I thought far less of him who had died than of her who was
condemned to live.
I ask the forbearance of my readers for so often digressing from my
subject to speak of affairs of the heart such as this, but I am writing
my Memoirs and not a history; my impressions, and not a compilation of
dates: as my impressions recur to my memory, so do they cause a dark or
a golden cloud to float between my eyes and my paper, according as they
are sad or joyful.
We were now joined by a fine, handsome lad of between twenty and
twenty-two. Carrel held out his hand to him.
"Oh! so it is you, Charras?" he said.
"Yes. I have been looking for you."
"For what purpose?"
"To ask you where they are fighting."
"Is there fighting anywhere?" Carrel questioned.
"My goodness! Of course there is!"
"Well! no matter; but I should never have thought it was so difficult a
matter to get one's head broken.... Since yesterday night I have been
running all over the place with that object in view and I haven't yet
got my desire!"
Charras, one of the bravest officers in the African army and one of the
staunchest characters of the Revolution of 1848, had been driven out
of the École polytechnique, at the beginning of 1830, for having sung
"La Marseillaise" and cried "_Vive La Fayette!_" at a dinner. One of
these two offences would alone have been enough to have expelled him,
but, as they could not turn him out twice, they had to be content with
turning him out once for all. Since that time, he had lived at No. 38
rue des Fossés-du-Temple, at Fresnoy the actor's, who kept a furnished
hotel, being also, at the same time, a manager of the Petit-Lazari
theatre of marionnettes, which the protection and influence of his
tenant changed into a theatre of living, speaking actors, a week after
the Revolution of July. Since the 26th, Charras had been planning what
part his old comrades the students of the École polytechnique could
play in the insurrection; consequently, he at once put himself into
communication with them, and, on the 27th, he had managed to distribute
among them the Opposition journals that had appeared, the _Globe_, the
_Temps_ and the _National._ The printer of the _Courrier français_ had
declined his presses, and the _Constitutionnel_ and the _Débats_ had
not dared to appear. At two o'clock, the graduate students, sergeants
and sergeant-majors, who had the right to go out as they liked, had
rushed into the streets, and had drawn all the quarters seething with
revolt, returning to the École saying, after what they had seen,
that a collision was imminent. At this piece of news the excitement
became intense. About seven o'clock they heard musket shots in the
rue du Lycée and volley firing in the rue Saint-Honoré. The students
were soon collected in the billiard-room, and there they decided that
four of their members should be sent to Laffitte, to La Fayette and
to Casimir Périer to tell them the feeling of the École and that the
students were ready to throw themselves into the insurrection. The
École numbered between forty to fifty Republicans, as many, perhaps,
as Paris contained among her twelve hundred thousand inhabitants.
The four students chosen were MM. Berthelin, Pinsonnière, Tourneux
and Lothon. The authorities tried to keep them in, but they broke
out without leave and arrived at Charras's lodgings at nine o'clock
in the evening. Charras was busy burning down the guard-house in the
place de la Bourse, and did not return home until half-past eleven.
But that did not matter, and it was decided they should go at once to
Laffitte's house. They left the rue des Fossés-du-Temple at midnight
and reached the door of his hotel at twenty minutes past. They rang
and knocked at the same time, so great was their haste to gain an
entrance. Moreover, in the innocence of their hearts, the five youths
imagined that Laffitte was in as great a hurry to accept their lives as
they themselves were to offer them. An ill-tempered concierge opened a
wicket-gate.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"To speak to M. Laffitte."
"What about?"
"About the Revolution."
"Who are you?"
"Students from the École polytechnique."
"M. Laffitte has gone to bed."
And the porter shut the door in the faces of the five young fellows.
Charras had a great mind to force open the door and even went so far as
to propose it, but, being dissuaded by his companions, he merely heaped
abuse upon the concierge.
The manner of their reception at Laffitte's did not encourage them to
pay the other calls they had planned to make: they agreed to call next
day on La Fayette and Casimir Périer, but in the meanwhile they would
return to the rue des Fossés-du-Temple. They therefore went back to
the Hôtel Fresnoy and accommodated themselves as best they could on
mattresses, on chairs, or on the floor. Next day, at dawn, they went to
a professor of mathematics, named Martelet, who coached for the École
examinations. M. Martelet lived at No. 16 rue des Fossés-du-Temple.
They wanted to procure themselves civilian's dress--the king's highway
not being safe in open daylight for the students who wore the École
uniform. The five friends found all, they required at M. Martelet's
house. Then, as they feared that if they called upon La Fayette too
early, the same thing would happen as when they called too late at
Laffitte's, they set to work to build a barricade in order to pass the
time of waiting.
A wigmaker was busy in a house opposite that of M. Martelet, curling
and powdering a wig: the young men invited him to join them; but,
whether the wigmaker's political opinions differed from the makers of
the barricade, or whether he was too much engrossed in his art and
thought his time was better employed in powdering and curling wigs,
he refused. By chance the barricade and the wig were both finished at
the same moment. As there was nobody to guard the barricade, they took
a model of a head with its pedestal from the wigmaker's shop, placed
it behind the paving-stones, dressed it up in the freshly powdered
and curled wig, rammed a three-cornered hat jauntily on the top and
confided the protection of the barricade, to the mannikin, forbidding
the wigmaker under pain of death to dare to make any change in the
strategic arrangements. After which they directed their course to La
Fayette's dwelling-place. La Fayette was not at home. The young people
left their names with the concierge, and were about to resume their
Odyssey by going to knock at the door of Casimir Périer. But Charras
thought two fruitless attempts were enough, and left his comrades to
fulfil their third attempt by themselves, which proved as barren as the
first two. He sought out Carrel to inquire where fighting was taking
place. But nobody seemed to know. There was a general idea that there
was fighting going on near the Hôtel de Ville, and, at certain moments,
the great bell of Notre-Dame could be heard ringing. As Charras had
no arms he was able to take a direct course by the Palais-Royal and
the Pont des Arts or by the Pont Neuf; whilst I, who had my gun,
was obliged to retrace my steps the way I had come, by the faubourg
Saint-Germain, the place de la Révolution and the rue de Lille. Charras
went his way and I mine. We shall find Charras again later. Carrell
went to the _Petite-Jacobinière_ and I went back again into the streets.
The spirit of hatred was still spreading: people were no longer
satisfied with effacing the fleurs de lys from the signboards, they now
dragged them in the gutters.
I called at Hiraux's for a few minutes (the reader will recall the
son of my old violin master, who kept and still keeps the café de la
Porte Saint-Honoré). I went in there first of all to see him, and
secondly, because there seemed a great agitation going on inside his
house. It was caused by a piece of news which was being spread abroad
and which exasperated people. It was said that the Duc de Raguse
had offered his services to the king, to take command of the armed
forces in Paris. If this news sounded odd to the world at large, it
surprised me still more: only two days before, had I not heard the Duc
de Raguse, at the Academy deploring the Ordinances and asking François
Arago not to speak? And, as a matter of fact, he had had no thought of
offering his services for the post until Marshal Marmont, who was in a
state of despair, had received that very morning, from the Prince de
Polignac, the order appointing him to the command of the first military
division. He had been upon the point of refusing, but his evil genius
had prevented him from doing so. There are men predestined to do fatal
acts! This news probably threw five hundred more combatants into the
streets.
When I reached the Pont de la Révolution, I stopped short in
stupefaction to rub my eyes, for I thought they must have deceived
me: the tricolour was floating from Notre-Dame! I must confess that
I experienced a strange feeling of emotion at the sight of that
flag, which I had not seen since 1815 and which recalled so many
noble memories of those Revolutionary times and so many glorious
recollections of the Imperial rule. I leant against the parapet with
outstretched arms and my eyes filled with tears, rivetted upon the
sight.
From la Grève side a lively fusillade burst forth, the smoke rising in
dense clouds. The sight of my gun brought a dozen people round me. Two
or three were armed with guns, others had pistols or swords.
"Will you lead us?" they said. "Will you be our chief?"
"Indeed I will!" I replied. "Come along."
We went across the Pont de la Révolution and we took our way through
the rue de Lille, to avoid the Orsay barracks, which commanded the
quay. The drums of the National Guard were beginning to beat the
_rappel_ and, our little company forming a nucleus, I had fifty men
round me, with two drums and a banner, by the time I reached the rue du
Bac. As I passed my rooms, I wished to go upstairs to fetch some money,
as I had gone out in the morning without troubling to look to see what
I had upon me, and I found I had only fifteen francs; but the landlord
had come and had given the porter orders not to admit me. My conduct
that morning had given rise to scandal: I had, myself, with nineteen
others, disarmed three soldiers of the Royal Guard, and, with nine
others, I had made three barricades; finally, as they evidently thought
I was so rich that they could risk lending me something, they added to
the charges against me the murder of the gendarme by Arago and Gauja.
My troop made me the same offer that Charras had made to his comrades,
the night before; they offered to break in the door, but I was fond of
my lodgings, they were very comfortable and I had not any desire that
my landlord should turn me out, so I restrained the enthusiastic zeal
of my men.
We resumed our journey along the rue de l'Université. At that moment, I
had nearly thirty men with me who were armed with rifles; when we got
to the top of the rue Jacob it occurred to me to ask them if they had
ammunition. They had not ten cartridges between them; but this fact had
not prevented their marching to face fire with that naïve and sublime
self-confidence which characterises the people of Paris during periods
of insurrection.
We went into an armourer's shop whose arms had all been seized, to ask
him if he could tell us where to find some cartridges. He told us that
we should find a _monsieur_ at the small gate of the Institut, in the
rue Mazarine, who was distributing powder. Now, although it was highly
improbable that such a _monsieur_ existed, we went off to the address
indicated.
The information was perfectly correct: we found the little door of
the Institut, and the _monsieur_ who was distributing powder. Who was
the gentleman and where did he hail from? And on whose behalf did he
distribute this powder? I know nothing about it and shall certainly
not put myself out about the question now, as I did not allow it to
trouble me at the time. I simply state the bare facts. A queue had been
formed, as you may suppose. Each man armed with a gun received a dozen
charges of powder; every man with a pistol received six. The _monsieur_
did not keep bullets; and these I hoped to procure at Joubert's, in
the Dauphine passage. I left my men in the street and went alone to
Joubert's, for fear of alarming those who lived down the passage.
Joubert had gone off with Godefroy Cavaignac and Guinard. Cavaignac and
Guinard had quarrelled; but, when they met by chance at Joubert's, guns
in hand, they fell into one another's arms and made it up. In spite of
the absence of the master of the house, they gave me fifty bullets,
which I took away to my men. This hardly allowed us two balls to each
gun; but we pursued our way, putting our trust in Providence.
As we were going to the place de Grève, we went by the rue Guénégaud,
the Pont Neuf and the quai de l'Horloge. It seemed there was to be no
opposition to our march, which was hastened by the sound of musketry
and cannon; until, on arriving at the quai aux Fleurs, we found
ourselves face to face with a whole regiment. It was the 15th Light
Infantry. Thirty rifles and fifty rounds of ammunition were scarcely
enough with which to attack fifteen hundred men. We pulled up. However,
as the troop did not assume an aggressive attitude towards us, I made
my men halt, advanced to the regiment with my gun erect and indicated
by signs that I wished to speak with an officer. A captain came out to
meet me.
"What is your business, monsieur?" he asked.
"A passage for myself and men."
"Where are you going?"
"To the Hôtel de Ville."
"What to do?"
"Why, to fight," I replied.
The captain began to laugh.
"Really, Monsieur Dumas," he said to me, "I didn't think you were as
mad as that."
"Ah! you know me?" I said.
"I was on guard one night at the Odéon when _Christine_ was being
played and I had the honour of seeing you."
"Then let us talk like two good friends."
"That is indeed what I am doing, it seems to me."
"Why am I a madman?"
"You are a madman, first of all, because you risk getting yourself
killed, when it is not your calling to get killed; secondly, you are
mad for asking us to allow you to pass through, because you know very
well we shall not do so.... Besides, look what will happen to you if we
grant your request--the same that has happened to these poor devils who
are being brought in...."
And he showed me two or three wounded, returning leaning upon the
shoulders of their comrades or laid on stretchers.
"Oh, ah! but you yourself? What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"A very sad thing, monsieur,--our duty. By good luck, the regiment
has, so far, received no orders beyond the prevention of traffic. We
are restricting ourselves, as you see, to the execution of that order.
So long as no one fires on us, we shall fire on no one either. Go and
tell that to your men and let them turn back quietly, and if, to go
further still, you have enough influence over them to persuade them to
return to their homes, you will be doing the very best deed possible!"
"I thank you for your advice, monsieur," I said, laughing in my turn;
"but I doubt whether my companions will be disposed to follow the
latter part of it."
"Then it will be so much the worse for them, monsieur!"
I bowed and turned to go away.
"By the bye," he said, "when will _Antony_ appear? Is not that the
title of the first play you mean to have performed?"
"Yes, Captain."
"When?"
"When we have accomplished the Revolution, seeing that the Censorship
has suppressed my play, and that it needs nothing less than a
Revolution to permit the performance of it--so they have told me at the
Ministry of the Interior."
The officer shook his head.
"Then I am very much afraid, monsieur, that the play will never see
daylight."
"You are afraid of that?"
"Yes."
"All right--here's to the first representation! And if you would like
seats at it, come to No. 25 rue de l'Université and ask me for them."
We bowed. The captain returned to his company, and I rejoined my troop,
to whom I related all that had passed. Our first care was to retire
beyond gunshot, in case our advisers should change their views for less
pacific ones. Then we held counsel together.
"Upon my word!" one of my men remarked, "the matter is easy enough. Do
we or do we not wish to go where there is fighting?"
"We do."
"Well, then, let us go down the rue du Harlay, the quai des Orfèvres
and return to the Pont Notre-Dame by the rue de la Draperie and the rue
de la Cité."
This proposition was unanimously adopted: our two drums began to
beat again, and we reascended the quai de l'Horloge to put our fresh
strategic plan into execution.
CHAPTER VII
The attack on the Hôtel de Ville--Rout--I take refuge
at M. Lethière's--The news--My landlord becomes
generous--General La Fayette--Taschereau--Béranger--The
list of the Provisional Government--Honest mistake of the
_Constitutionnel_
We kept strictly to the route agreed on. A quarter of an hour after our
departure from the quai de l'Horloge, we issued forth by the little
street of Glatigny. We arrived in the nick of time: they were going
to make a decisive charge upon the Hôtel de Ville by the suspension
bridge. Only, if we wished to join in the attack, we must hurry on.
Our two drums beat the charge and we advanced at quick pace. We could
see about a hundred men in the distance (who composed pretty nearly
the whole of the insurgent army) boldly marching towards the bridge,
a tricolour standard at their head, when, suddenly, a piece of cannon
was pointed and fired in such a way as to rake the whole length of the
bridge.
The cannon was charged with grapeshot and the effect of the discharge
was terrible. The standard disappeared; some eight or ten men fell
and a dozen to fifteen took flight. But the fugitives rallied again
at the outcries of those who remained unmoved on the bridge. From the
point where we were sheltered by the parapet, we fired on the place de
Grève and upon the gunners at the cannon, two of whom fell. They were
instantly replaced, and with indescribable rapidity the cannon was
reloaded and fired a second time. There was frightful confusion on the
bridge; many of the assailants must have been killed or wounded, to
judge by the gaps in their ranks. One of us shouted--
"To the bridge! To the bridge!"
We soon sprang forward; but we had not cleared a third of the
distance when the cannon thundered forth a third time, and at the
same moment the troop advanced upon the bridge with fixed bayonets.
Hardly twenty combatants survived that third discharge; forty or so
lay dead or wounded on the bridge. Not only was there no longer any
means of attacking, but, further, we could not dream of defending
ourselves--four to five hundred men were charging us with fixed
bayonets! By good fortune we only had to cross the quay in order to
reach the network of little streets which were buried in the heart of
the city. A fourth discharge of the cannon killed three or four more
of our men and hastened our retreat, which, from that moment, might
be more accurately described as a rout. This was the first time I
had ever heard the whistling of grapeshot, and I confess I shall not
believe anyone who tells me he has heard this sound for the first time
unmoved. We did not even attempt to rally, and, with the exception of
one of the drummers whom I met upon the square in front of Notre-Dame,
my whole troop had vanished like smoke. But, five minutes later, we
met each other again, some fifteen of us, who all arrived by different
streets from the bridge. The news they brought was disastrous: the
standard-bearer, whom they asserted was called Arcole, had been killed;
Charras, they said, was mortally wounded; finally, the bridge was
literally strewn with dead. I thought I had done enough for one day,
considering I was a novice in my military career; also, cries round
us announced the approach of soldiers: they were coming to take down
the tricoloured flag from the tower and to stop the ringing of the
great bell of Notre-Dame, which boomed on with admirable persistence,
dominating all other sounds, even that of the cannon. I regained the
quai des Orfèvres and the same street, rue Guénégaud, by which I had
passed triumphantly at the head of my fifty men only an hour before;
I went down the rue Mazarine and, by the same door from which the
_monsieur_ had distributed powder, I entered the house of my friend,
Lethière. I was received just as cordially as usual, even more so,
perhaps: M. Lethière held strong Liberal views, Mademoiselle d'Hervilly
was almost Republican. They gave me some of that famous rum-arrack
which comes directly from la Guadeloupe, of which I was inordinately
fond! Upon my word, it was good, after listening to the whistle of
grapeshot and seeing fifty men mowed down, to find oneself among warm
friends who embraced and shook hands with one and poured one out arrack!
It was almost three o'clock: M. Lethière declared that he had got me
and did not mean to let me go again that day. I asked nothing better
than to be kept back compulsorily, and remained to dinner. At five,
Lethière's son came in, bringing news with him. Fighting was going
on, or had gone on, in every quarter of Paris. The boulevards were
on fire from the Madeleine to the Bastille; half the trees were cut
down and had been used in the making of upwards of forty barricades.
The Mairie of Petits-Pères had been taken by three patriots, whose
names were already known--MM. Degousée, Higonnet and Laperche. In
the faubourg and in the rue de Saint-Antoine the enthusiasm had been
extraordinary: they had crushed the soldiers, who were coming from
Vincennes, beneath furniture which was flung on them from the windows.
Nothing had come amiss as arms: wood from bedsteads, cupboards, chests
of drawers, marble, chairs, firedogs, screens, cisterns, bottles--even
a piano had been thrown down! The troops were completely decimated.
The attack in the Louvre district had advanced as far as the place
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. A column of twenty men had marched to
battle headed by a violin which played _Ran tan plan tire lire!_ And,
more than this: the members of the Chamber were beginning to rouse
themselves. They met at the house of Audry de Puyraveau, and talked
much but did little. That was better than nothing! Finally, they
decided that five deputies should wait upon the Duc de Raguse to lay
certain propositions before him, and to treat with him if necessary.
"Four millions," Casimir Périer said, "would, according to my thinking,
be well spent in this matter."
The five deputies repaired to the headquarters in the square, where the
marshal was: they were MM. Laffitte, Casimir Périer, Mauguin, Lobau and
Gérard. They had been shown in at Marmont's house, where they found
François Arago, who had preceded them on the same errand; but neither
the one nor the other had had the slightest success whatever. While
they were waiting at the marshal's, a lancer, with his chest horribly
lacerated by a gunshot, had been carried into the next room to the
one in which the conference was being held. They could not at first
tell what kind of projectile the wound could have been made with: the
surgeon thought it must have been shot used for killing hares. But it
was with printer's type! The men whose presses had been broken were
taking their revenge. This is only a detail, but it was one which
indicated how each person used whatever means he had at hand in default
of proper arms.
The news, as will be seen, was not bad, but there was nothing decisive
about it yet. The people, the bourgeoisie, young lads, had flung
themselves passionately into the insurrection; it was the financial
circles and those in high places in the army and the aristocracy who
hung back. M. Dumoulin had been seen in his plumed hat, with his great
sword by his side, haranguing in the rue Montmartre; and Colonel Dufys,
dressed as one of the people, with a scarf round his head, had been
seen urging on the insurgents; but M. de Rémusat was still suffering
from a feverish attack at the _Globe_ offices, and M. Thiers and M.
Mignet were at Montmorency, at the house of Madame de Courchamp,
whilst M. Cousin talked of the white flag as the only one that could
save France; M. Charles Dupin, meeting Étienne Arago under one of the
pavilions by the Institut, had exclaimed, with tears in his eyes,
seeing him with a gun in his hand--
"Oh! monsieur, has it come to this, that soldiering is your work now?"
M. Dubois, chief editor of the _Globe_, had given up his editorship;
M. Sébastiani was for keeping in orderly legal ways; M. Alexandre de
Girardin protested that it suited France best to have the Bourbons
without the Ultras; Carrel loudly condemned the folly of those
citizens who attacked the military; then, finally, when the people
and bourgeoisie and the youths from the colleges were shedding their
blood freely and without stint, MM. Laffitte, Mauguin, Casimir Périer,
Lobau and Gérard were satisfied with trying to draw up a measure of
conciliation with the man who was firing grapeshot over Paris!
If, next day, things did not settle themselves more favourably, they
would certainly become worse. There were not really more than from
twelve to thirteen thousand men in Paris; but there were fifty thousand
within a radius of twenty-five to thirty leagues, and the semaphores,
which flourished their huge, mysterious arms in the eyes of all, showed
that the Government had a thousand things to tell the provinces which
it was particularly anxious that Paris should not know.
The upshot of all this was that it was quite possible that on the
next day, the 29th, the heroes of the 27th and 28th would be obliged
to clear out of the capital, if not out of France itself. With a view
to this eventuality, M. Lethière inquired the state of my finances,
and offered to help me in case of need (it was not the first time
he had done me a similar service), but I was quite rich, for, when
I was ready to start for Algiers, I had called in all my theatrical
payments and was in possession of something like a thousand crowns.
But M. Lethière, who knew my way of economising, declined to believe
in this fortune and suspected me of boasting. It was true my fortune
was under sequestration, on account of the orders my landlord had given
forbidding me to enter my rooms. But this ban could not also include
my friends. Therefore, as much to relieve the mind of the excellent
man who offered to lend me money as to put myself in possession of
my own fortune, I deputed M. Lethière's son to take a message to
my servant; giving him the key of the place where I kept the purse
containing my three thousand francs and my passport,--two things each
equally necessary at that moment,--I begged my obliging commissionaire
to effect an invasion of my premises, whether by fair means or foul,
and to bring me back my purse. He was also to bring some forty bullets
which he would find deposited in a cup on my bedroom mantelpiece, to
replace those I had made use of during the day. He was also to be so
obliging as to leave a letter at No. 7 rue de l'Université, as he
passed: the letter told the person to whom it was addressed to be quite
easy on my account; it also told her I was in safety, and I promised
not to commit any follies. This pledged me to nothing, since it left
me free to place my own limits as to what things were prudent and
what were rash. Half an hour later, Lethière returned with all the
commissions executed. He had not only not experienced any trouble at
the hands of the concierge, but the landlord had relented--no doubt on
account of the way he saw that things were turning out: he had given me
permission to return on condition that I would give my word of honour
not to fire from the windows of his rooms. The insurrection had wrought
one great moral victory, at any rate.
I left my good, worthy friend Lethière at nine o'clock and returned
home, first giving the concierge the requisite promise. He had run
round the whole of the faubourg Saint-Germain, and the result of his
exploration, ordered by the landlord himself, was that the whole
quarter was in a state of insurrection. There was talk of a great
meeting to be held next morning, in the place de l'Odéon, as a suitable
centre from which they could set out to attack the various barracks
or guard-houses, which usually play the same part in the midst of an
insurrection that fortified places do during an invasion.
I returned, but not to go to bed, only to deposit my gun, powder
and balls; I meant to spend a good part of the night in gleaning
information. I felt it was urgently needful to implicate, by some means
or other, those great leaders of the Opposition who had been waiting
for fifteen years, and I desired to know if our friends were busy
over this little piece of work. I dressed myself, therefore, for the
occasion, and tried to cross the bridges. The sentries on duty at the
gates of the Tuileries and the Carrousel were expressly forbidden to
allow anyone whomsoever to enter without the password. Through the
stone arcade could be seen the court of the Tuileries and the square
of the Carrousel transformed into a vast, dark, dreary camp, silent
and almost motionless. The soldiers looked more like phantoms than
like men. I went along the quay, and by the place de la Révolution and
the rue Saint-Honoré, as I had done in the morning. All the shops were
shut, but there were lamps in most of the windows. Foot passengers were
scarce and, as the noise of traffic had nearly ceased, on account of
the obstruction caused by the barricades, the lugubrious, ceaseless
ringing of the bell of Notre-Dame could be heard in the air, like
the sound of a flight of bronze birds. As I went down the quay, I
remembered Paul Fouché and his play, and I felt curious to know if
he had read it to the Committee and if his drama had been received
or rejected. I have already said that I knew General La Fayette. I
attempted what Charras and the students of the École polytechnique had
failed in--I went to call upon him. They told me he was out, which I
doubted at first, and I went inside the porter's lodge and told him my
name; but the honest man repeated there what he had already said to me
through his little grating. I was going away very much disappointed
when I saw three or four men walking in the darkness, and in the middle
figure I thought I recognised that of the general. I went forward and
it was he. He was leaning upon M. Carbonnel's arm; M. de Lasteyrie, I
believe, came behind, talking to a servant.
"Ah! General," I exclaimed; "it is you!"
He recognised me.
"Good!" he said. "I am surprised that I have not seen you before now."
"It is not easy to gain access to you, General"; and I related all that
Charras and his friends had gone through in their attempt.
"True," he said; "I found their names and ordered that they should be
admitted if they returned."
"General, I cannot say whether the others will do so, but I doubt if
Charras will."
"Why not?"
"Because I hear he was killed over in the direction of la Grève."
"Killed?" he exclaimed. "Ah! poor young fellow!"
"It is not surprising, General; ... there was warm work there!"
"Were you there?"
"Yes, indeed! but only for a short time."
"What are you intending to do to-morrow?"
"I confess, General, that was the very question I was going to put to
you."
The general leant on my arm and took a few steps forward, as though to
get out of sight of his two companions.
"I mean to leave the députies," he said; "there is nothing to be done
with them."
"Then why not move without them?"
"Let people drive me to it and I am ready to act."
"Shall I repeat that to my friends?"
"You may."
"Adieu, General!"
He kept hold of my arm.
"Don't get yourself killed...."
"I will try not."
"In any case, no matter how things turn out, manage to let me see you
again."
"I can't promise you that, General, unless...."
"Come, come," the general said; "_au revoir!_"
And he went into his house.
I ran off to Étienne Arago, No. 10 rue de Grammont. All the
Revolutionary leaders were gathered at his house. The day had been
a hard one, but, thanks to Joubert's library, to Charles Teste's
_Petite-Jacobinière_ and to Coste, who had spent between three and
four thousand francs in buying bread and wine to distribute among the
fighters, the insurrection had spread to all parts of the town. I told
Étienne I had seen the general and reported what he had said, word for
word.
"Come, let us go to the _National_!" he said.
And to the _National_ we went.
Taschereau was busy preparing to make a sublime forgery: he and Charles
Teste and Béranger concocted a Provisional Government composed of La
Fayette, Gérard and the Duc de Choiseul. He did still more: he issued
a proclamation which he signed with their three names. He had first
chosen Laffey de Pompières as the third member of their Government, but
Béranger had had this name erased in order to substitute that of the
Duc de Choiseul in its stead. Thus, besides preparing the Revolution by
his chansons, Béranger took an active part in it personally. We shall
soon see that he was the principal agent in its denouement.
Next day, the list of the Provisional Government was to be stuck up on
all the walls of Paris, and the first proclamation of this Government
was to appear in the _Constitutionnel._ I need hardly say that the
honest _Constitutionnel_ was sincere, and that it thought Taschereau's
three calligraphic attempts were authentic and legal signatures.
Thereupon, I entered my lodgings with an easier mind: as I was quite
knocked up with my day's work, I slept as sound as a top through the
tolling of Notre-Dame and the intermittent popping of belated stray
shots.
CHAPTER VIII
Invasion of the Artillery Museum--Armour of François
I.--Charles IX.'s arquebuse--La place de l'Odéon--What
Charras had been doing--The uniform of the École
polytechnique--Millotte--The prison Montaigu--The barracks
of l'Estrapade--D'Hostel--A Bonapartist--Riding master
Chopin--Lothon--The general in command
I was awakened next morning by my servant Joseph. He was standing by my
bedside calling me with ever increasing loudness.
"Monsieur!... Monsieur!!... Monsieur!!!..."
At the third _Monsieur_, I groaned, rubbed my eyes and sat up. "Well,"
I asked, "what is the matter?"
"Oh, don't you hear, monsieur?" Joseph exclaimed, holding his head with
his hands.
"How should I hear, you idiot? I was asleep."
"But fighting is going on all round us, monsieur!"
"Really?"
He opened the window.
"Listen! it sounds as if it were in the courtyard."
And, indeed, the firing seemed to me to come from no very distant point.
"The deuce!" I said, "where does it come from?"
"From Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, monsieur."
"What! from the church itself?"
"No, from the Artillery Museum.... Monsieur knows that a post is
stationed there."
"Ah! true," I exclaimed, "the Artillery Museum! I will go there."
"What! Monsieur will go there?"
"Certainly."
"Oh, good Heavens!"
"Quick, help me! ... A glass of Madeira or Alicante wine!... Oh! the
wretches! they will pillage everything!"
That, indeed, was the thought which preoccupied my mind, and that was
what made me run to the place where I heard the firing going on. I
remembered the archæological treasures that I had seen and handled, one
after another, in the studies I had written on Henri III., Henri IV.
and Louis XIII., and I saw them all being scattered among the hands
of people who did not know their value: marvellous rich treasures of
art being given to the first comer who would exchange them for a pound
of tobacco or a packet of cartridges. I was ready in five minutes and
darted off in the direction of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin. For the third
time, the assailants had been repulsed. This was easily explained: they
were madly attacking the Museum by the two openings made by the rue du
Bac and the rue Saint-Dominique. The firing of the soldiers raked the
two streets and swept them clean with deplorable facility. I looked at
the houses in the rue du Bac, which on both sides formed the corner
of the rue Gribauval, and I judged that their backs must look upon
the place Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, and that from their upper storeys one
could easily dominate the post of the Museum of Artillery. I confided
to the combatants the plan suggested to me by the view of the position:
it was instantly adopted by them. I knocked at the door of one of two
houses, No. 35 rue du Bac, and it was opened after a long wait; still,
it did open, in the end, and eight to ten armed men entered with me and
we rushed upstairs to the higher storeys. I and three or four other
fellows reached an attic, which was rounded off at the top to fit the
shape of the roof above it, and here I established myself with as much
safety as if I had been behind the parapet of a bastion.
Then firing began, but with quite different results. In ten minutes
the post had lost five or six of its men. Suddenly, all the soldiers
disappeared, the firing died down. This must, we thought, be some kind
of ambuscade, so we hesitated before quitting our intrenchments. But
the porter of the Museum soon appeared at the door making unmistakable
signs of peace So we went down. The soldiers had scaled the walls and
run away over the surrounding courts and gardens. A portion of the
insurgents was already crowding up the corridors when I reached the
Museum.
"For God's sake, friends," I cried, "respect the armour!"
"What! Why should we respect it?"
"I like that joke," replied one of the men to whom I addressed myself.
"Why, to take the weapons is the very reason we are here!" he said.
It then occurred to me that, of course, this must have been the sole
object of the attack, and that there would be no means of saving the
magnificent collection from pillage. I considered: the only thing left
to do was to take my share of the most valuable of the armour.
One of two things would happen: either they would keep the arms or
bring them back to the Museum. In either case, it was better that I
should take charge of the precious things, rather than anyone else.
If I kept them, they would be in the hands of a man who knew how to
appreciate them. If they were to be restored, they would be in the
hands of one who would give them up. I ran to the best place, where
there was an equestrian trophy of the Renaissance period. I seized
a shield, a helmet and a sword which were known to have belonged to
François I., also a magnificent arquebuse which had belonged, according
to the same tradition, to Charles IX., and had been used by him to
fire upon the Huguenots. This tradition has become almost historic, on
account of the quatrain which the arquebuse carries, inlaid in silver
letters, on its barrel, forming one single line from the breech to the
sighting-point:--
"Pour mayntenir la foy,
Je suis belle et fidèle;
Aux ennemis du Roy
Je suis belle et cruelle!"
I put the helmet on my head, the shield on my arm; I hung the sword
by my side, put the arquebuse on my shoulder, and so made my way,
bending under their weight, to the rue de l'Université. I nearly fell
when I reached the height of my fourth floor. If these were, indeed,
the very shield and buckler that François I. had worn at Marignan, and
if he remained fourteen hours in the saddle with these in addition to
his other armour, I could believe in the prowess of Ogier the Dane and
Roland and the four sons of Aymon.
"Oh! monsieur," Joseph exclaimed, when he caught sight of me, "where
have you been, and whatever is all that old iron?"
I did not attempt to correct Joseph's ideas with respect to my booty;
it would only have been waste of time. I simply told him to help me to
take off the helmet, which nearly suffocated me. I laid them all down
on my bed and rushed back for more of this splendid quarry. I brought
back next the cuirass, axe and the bulk of the arms. I gave all my fine
trophies back, later, to the Artillery Museum, and I still possess the
letter of the former Director, thanking me for their restitution, and
giving me free entry on days not open to the general public. It was
a curious spectacle to see that huge removal of the Museum. Everyone
took what suited him best, but it is only fair to say that these
worthy fellows were much more careful to select arms they thought most
suitable to fight with than sumptuously wrought ones. So nearly the
whole of the collection of old muskets, flint and percussion caps,
from the time of Louis XIV. to our own day, disappeared. One man took
away a rampart gun that must have weighed at least a hundred and fifty
pounds; four others dragged a piece of iron cannon with which they
meant to attack the Louvre. I found the man who had taken the rampart
gun, a couple of hours later, lying unconscious upon the quay. He had
rammed his gun with two handfuls of powder and from twelve to fifteen
balls; then, from one side of the Seine, leaning it up against the
parapet, he had fired upon a regiment of cuirassiers which was marching
along by the Louvre. He had made some cruel gaps in the regiment, but
the recoil of the gun had flung him ten feet backwards, dislocating
his shoulder and breaking his jaw. Before I found him, I had witnessed
several scenes characteristic enough to be worth putting down here.
Intoxication from wine, brandy or rum is nothing to that caused by
the smell of powder, the noise of firing and the sight of blood. I
can understand a man flying at the first shot of gun or cannon, but I
cannot understand anyone who has once tasted fire leaving before it
ceases. At all events, this was the effect it was beginning to have
upon myself.
Delanoue, whom I met, who was hunting all over the place for a gun,
told me there was going to be a rallying of forces on the place
de l'Odéon. I had already heard of this gathering the day before.
Unfortunately, I had only my gun with me and I did not wish to part
with it; I therefore mentioned to Delanoue the Artillery Museum as a
place where he might find what he was in search of, and then I set off
at a run down the rue de Grenelle. The place de l'Odéon was blocked and
there must have been something like five or six hundred men there. Two
or three pupils from the École polytechnique were in command of some
companies. In one of these uniforms, I recognised Charras, whom I had
seen dressed the previous day as a civilian.
So he was neither killed nor wounded. This is the story of what
happened, which had made people believe he was dead.
As will be seen, he had not wasted his time since the day before, and
particularly since the morning. When he had parted from Carrel and
me, he went through the faubourg Saint-Germain, where he had done his
utmost to procure a gun; but, on 28 July 1830, a gun was as scarce as
Juvenal's _rara avis._ He had heard of, the _monsieur_ who was giving
away gunpowder at the small door of the Institut and had gone to have
an interview with the worthy citizen. The _monsieur_ not only refused
to give him a gun, but went still further and refused him any powder
because he had no gun.
Charras next made this sapient observation--
"I will go where there is fighting, I will put myself in the midst of
the fighters, I will constitute myself the legatee of the first man who
falls dead and take possession of his gun."
In consequence of that resolution, he had gone along the quai des
Orfèvres and met the 15th Light Infantry, with whom he held a
conversation; perhaps they were the very same I had talked with;
but, as he was alone, unarmed and had kept his hands in his pockets,
they had let him pass through. When through, Charras gained the Pont
Notre-Dame and, from thence, the suspension bridge. Now we know that
the insurrection was raging furiously on the latter bridge. Charras
arrived half an hour earlier than I did and waited. He did not have to
wait long, for a man was soon struck in the eye by a bullet, and rolled
at his feet. Charras seized the dead man's gun. A street urchin, who
was probably watching for the same opportunity, also ran up, but was
too late. Armed with his gun, Charras was still not much better off,
for he had neither powder nor shot.
"I have some," the urchin said, and he drew a packet of fifteen
cartridges from his pocket.
"Let me have them," said Charras.
"No.... We will divide them, if you like."
"All right, we will."
"Here are seven, then; but let me use the gun after you?"
"I suppose so, since that was our agreement."
Charras scrupulously fired only his seven cartridges, then honourably
passed the gun to the urchin and withdrew behind the parapet; from
actor he became spectator and, in the latter capacity, he sheltered
himself as best he could. The street lad fired four cartridges, and
then the charge came that we had witnessed from a distance. The lad
rushed on the bridge with the rest, and Charras, although unarmed,
followed the stream. I have previously described the effect of the
three successive discharges. Charras was spun round under the blast of
that whirlwind of iron, and clung on to his neighbour to keep himself
from falling; but the man had been mortally wounded and fell, dragging
Charras with him. Hence had arisen the rumour that he was killed. By
good fortune, however, he escaped safe and sound, but, not feeling
too sure of the fact, he tested it by reaching the other side of the
quay and threading his way through a little street in the shelter of
which he was able, without interruption, to feel himself all over. As
for the urchin and his gun, he had to accept the inevitable: the lad
had disappeared like Romulus in the storm, or Curtius in the gulf, or
Empedocles in the volcano! Charras then began to wonder what possible
use a man could be without a gun, or who did not know where to procure
one. A band of patriots, unarmed, like himself, happening to pass
at the same moment, seemed to have come for the express purpose of
answering his question.
"Well, citizen," one of the men said, "will you come along with us to
sound the tocsin from Saint-Séverin?"
"All right!" Charras replied, it being a matter of indifference to him
where he went, so long as he took some part in being useful to the
cause. And he went with them to Saint-Séverin. The doors were shut;
they knocked at all, little and great, from the door for marriages and
baptisms down to the door of the last Sacrament. In cases like this,
decisions are quickly arrived at: they decided to burst the doors open,
as they would not open of their own accord; they tore away a beam from
a house that was being built and a dozen men carried it to serve as a
battering-ram. At the third charge delivered by this huge implement
against the door, the locks and bolts gave way. The sacristan arrived
upon the scene and opened the door altogether, just as a fourth blow
was going to break it in. When the door was opened, they soon set the
bell ringing, and Charras's work at Saint-Séverin was concluded. He
went to join a party of friends in the Latin Quarter, with whom he
spent the night constructing a plan.
Now, the uniform worn by the students of the École polytechnique had
been very much looked down upon before the insurrection was declared,
but had gone up in reputation very considerably as the insurrection
advanced. The plan made during the night was to go at daybreak in
search of uniforms of the École polytechnique. So, about four in the
morning, Charras, with a friend of his, called Lebeuf, rang at the
porter's gate. The rise in sentiment had made its way even to the
École, and both porter and professors gave the two rebels a warm
reception, shaking hands with them and giving them the clothes they
asked for.
I remember one small incident: Charras, having found a coat, apparently
was not able to find trousers to match; for, with a blue coat, he
wore grey trousers, which, as a uniform, was rather meagre. The two
friends thus being fitted with uniforms and particularly with hats--the
hat always plays an important rôle in insurrections--they made their
way to the place de l'Odéon. They heard, _en route_, that guns were
being distributed in the rue de Tournon. Indeed, the barracks of the
Gendarmerie had just been captured, and muskets, pistols, sabres and
swords were being distributed in a fairly orderly manner.
Charras and Lebeuf joined the queue, but, when they reached the office,
those in the barracks would only give them swords, because they said
that students from the École polytechnique were all officers by right
and, in that capacity, were destined to command detachments; they
ought, therefore, to receive swords and not guns.
Not even the most earnest entreaties of these two young people were
able to change the programme--they would only give them swords and no
other arms. But a student of colossal stature and herculean strength
did not accept this improvised lawmaking so easily as Lebeuf and
Charras had done: he seized the distributor by the throat and began
to strangle him, telling him he would not let him go until he had a
gun. The distributor seemed to consider the argument sound, for he
hastened to give a gun to the merry blade who could put into action so
sensible an application of that branch of philosophy we call logic;
and the student went away armed to his own liking. This was Millotte
who, afterwards, became a representative of the People and who sat in
the Legislative Assembly with Lamartine and our friend Noël Parfait.
Millotte is now one of our most respected exiles. In virtue of his
uniform, his sword and the rights possessed by the students of the
École to become officers, Charras took the command of a troop of a
hundred and fifty men. A drummer and standard-bearer put the finishing
touch to this troop. Then the question was where to go? A voice
shouted--
"To the prison Montaigu, place du Panthéon!"
So Charras and his troop started for that destination.
Revolutions have their mysterious winds which blow men to one point or
another without any apparent reason; they are the waterspouts that blow
up from under the ocean and they go south or north, east or west, how
or why nobody knows. It is the breath of God which guides them. At the
prison Montaigu, they found a hundred and fifty men under arms, ready
to defend themselves. A brewer from the rue Saint-Antoine, named Maes,
was there--another Santerre--with some sixty insurgents. He was on
horseback and wore the old uniform of the National Guard. The struggle
had threatened to become hot, and they were trying to come to terms.
"Hulloa! Captain," cried Charras, "will you come to me, or would you
rather I came to you?"
"Come to me, monsieur," the captain replied.
"I have your parole?"
"Yes."
Charras then approached him, and there ensued a dialogue between them,
the offspring of their peculiar situation, which could not have taken
place under other circumstances--a dialogue in which Charras tried
to prove to the captain that it would be far more advantageous and
honourable and patriotic for him to join the people's side or, at the
very least, to lend them guns. The captain did not seem to understand
Charras's logic so well as the distributor of muskets in the rue
de Tournon had understood that of Millotte. Charras redoubled his
eloquence, but made no headway; yet if he failed to advance, his men
did not: they came up nearer, little by little.
The reader knows the true Parisian, who never gives up his end but
presses towards it out of curiosity or passion; he slips through the
hands of police, sentries and squadrons, dragging one foot after the
other, with honied tones and wooing gesture, part cat, part fox; then,
if you want to keep him back, he is soon far away! When you want to
stop him, he is already past you! And, as soon as he feels himself out
of your reach, his sole answer to your reproaches is a mocking gesture
or a sarcastic remark.
In such fashion had Charras's men slipped past the sentinels and come
up imperceptibly to their commander, and, consequently, nearer to the
soldiers; so effectively was this movement executed that, in five
minutes' time, before Charras had himself perceived them, they were
within ten paces of their adversaries and ready for a hand-to-hand
tussle with them. Whether it was the mingling of the forces or the
names of Jena, Austerlitz and Marengo of which Charras reminded them;
whether it was the tricolour ribbons, with their stirring tones of
colour, that floated before his eyes; or whether he really felt a
brotherly sympathy extended to him, which decided the officer to
capitulate, Charras did not know; but he realised that a capitulation
was arrived at, that his troop obtained fifty guns and the captain's
word of honour that he and his soldiers would remain neutral. True, the
captain was inexorable in his refusal of cartridges; but Providence did
not stop thus half-way: it had given the guns, it was also to bestow
the requisite cartridges.
The fifty guns were distributed among those of Charras's men who had no
firearms, and among those of a fresh troop that had come up meanwhile,
who were in the same plight. This new troop was commanded by another
student of the École polytechnique called d'Hostel. The division made,
again the question arose as to where they were to go.
"To the Estrapade!" cried a voice.
"To the Estrapade!" all the voices repeated in unison.
So off they rushed towards the Estrapade.
Our Parisian readers will know the position of the barracks of the
Estrapade, and that they are approached by a narrow street which
is easily defended. There were nearly four hundred men; quite
enough, in like circumstances, to attack Metz or Valenciennes
or Mont-Saint-Michel; but they were so elated with their recent
negotiations at the place du Panthéon that they decided to try the same
tactics in the rue de l'Estrapade. This time d'Hostel proposed himself
as negotiator; for, he said, he had accomplices inside the place. He
advanced with a handkerchief in his hand, leaving his gun with one of
his men. They held a parley between the street and the first floor;
but this was too high up to be heard, so d'Hostel cleared the distance
between himself and his interlocutors by suddenly climbing up the
wall. How did he do that? It was a miracle to those who watched his
ascent! D'Hostel was extremely adroit, and renowned at the École for
his gymnastic feats. In an instant, he had reached one of the windows
on the first floor, he was lifted in by his arms and found himself
inside the barracks, where he was swallowed up like the fiends in
English theatres which disappear through trap-doors. Ten minutes later,
he reappeared, clad in the coat and leather cap of the officer, whilst
the latter wore the uniform of a pupil of the École polytechnique, with
the three-cornered hat in his hand, and bowed to the people. The game
was won! The square resounded with vivats and applause. The soldiers
abandoned the barracks and surrendered a hundred of their guns. This
ruse, executed by Charras and d'Hostel, was worthy of winning them the
posts of ambassadors to London and St. Petersburg! But, unluckily,
the deed either did not reach the ears of the Government or was not
properly appreciated by it, so they sent instead, to those two cities,
M. le Prince de Talleyrand and M. le Maréchal Maison, who confined
themselves to committing stupid acts.
Full of pride at this second triumph of theirs, Charras and d'Hostel
reached the place de l'Odéon. I was struck with the ease with which
drums seem to multiply during a time of Revolution; they appear to
ooze out of walls and rise out of the pavements--Charras and d'Hostel
had about fifteen between them. At the same time that we reached the
place de l'Odéon, a piece of cannon that had been taken from the post
was being drawn through the rue des Fossés-Monsieur-le-Prince by five
men, three of whom were firemen; next came a carriage, containing
three barrels of powder from the powder magazine at the Jardin des
Plantes; I think it was driven by Liédot, who has since become an
artillery captain. The barrels were broken open and the distribution
of their contents begun. Everybody had some, either in his coat pocket
or handkerchief or cap or tobacco pouch. They were smoking amidst all
this, incredible as it may appear. How Jean Bart would have shuddered
from head to foot! But they very soon discovered that all this powder
was useless and that the best thing to do with it would be to make
it into cartridges. This was the more feasible since they had just
received two or three thousand bullets from the passage Dauphine. Four
men were occupied in moulding them out of the lead of the gutters,
in a tavern to the left of the square as you come to it from the rue
de l'Odéon. The only thing they lacked was paper. However, all the
windows facing the square were wide open and they only had to cry out
"Paper is wanted!" and soon the air was flecked with projectiles of
every shape and description, but of the same material: paper fell in
exercise-books, in reams and in volumes. I was very nearly knocked down
by a _Gradus ad Parnassum!_
Amongst the crowds were about a hundred old soldiers, who set to
work and, in less than an hour made and distributed three thousand
cartridges. The spectacle must have been seen in order to realise the
animation, high spirits and gaiety that prevailed. Everybody called
out something, whether "Vive la République!" or "Vive la Charte!" One
man of Charras's band made himself hoarse with shouting "Vive Napoléon
II.!" The oft-repeated cry at length exciting Charras, who was already,
at that period, a strong Republican, he went to this Bonapartist and
said--
"Look here, do you suppose we are fighting for Napoleon II.?"
"You can fight for whom you like," the man replied, "but that's the man
I mean to fight for!"
"You have the right to, if you wish it, of course.... But if you fight
for him you must enlist in some other troop than this."
"Oh! that will suit me all right," said the man: "there are plenty of
engagements going on nowadays!"
He therefore left Charras's ranks and went to seek service in a troop
led by a chief who was of less decided opinions.
At this very moment, by some strange coincidence, a man called
Chopin, who owned the stables of the Luxembourg, arrived at a gallop
at the place de l'Odéon; he was clad in a buttoned-up frock-coat,
wore a three-cornered hat and rode a white horse. He pulled up in
the very centre of the square, with one hand held behind his back.
The resemblance to Napoleon was so striking and extraordinary that
the whole crowd, not a single member of which had taken sides
with the expelled Bonapartist, began to shout with one accord and
simultaneously, "Vive l'Émpereur!" One good woman of seventy took the
joke quite seriously and fell on her knees, making the sign of the
cross, and exclaiming--
"Oh! Jesus! I shall not die, then, before I have seen him once more!..."
If Chopin had desired to put himself at the head of the six to eight
hundred men there present, it is probable that he could have marched
straight off to Vienna.
Charras was furious, whilst I completely forgot the political situation
of the moment and became solely a philosophic student of humanity. I
only needed a tub and Laïs and I could have established myself there
for ever in the place de l'Odéon, as Diogenes established himself in
the gymnasium of Corinth.
But a serious discussion drew me from my dreams. They wanted to make
Charras general-in-chief and he would not take the position. He offered
the citizens Lothon, a tall, fine young fellow, a combination of
Hercules and Antinous, as a suitable candidate, instead; his principal
reason being that he was on foot while Lothon rode on horseback;
therefore, he considered Lothon had far more claim to the generalship.
And, in truth, no general-in-chief was ever seen afoot. But Lothon
excused himself fiercely from being appointed to this high post. For
all this, he was on the point of being obliged to yield, when a
gentleman came up to him and whispered--
"Oh! monsieur, if you will not be general-in-chief, let me take your
place.... I am an ex-captain and I think I have a right to this honour."
Never did ambition display itself at a more fitting opportunity.
"Oh! monsieur," Lothon replied, "you will indeed render me a welcome
service!"
Then, addressing the crowd, he asked--
"You want a general-in-chief?"
"Yes, yes!" was repeated on all sides.
"Well, then, I introduce this gentleman to you ... he is an ex-captain
who is _covered with wounds_ and who would much like to be your
general-in-command."
"Bravo!" a hundred voices shouted.
"Pardon me for covering you with wounds, my dear monsieur," said
Lothon, as he stepped to the ground and presented his horse to the
newly elected chief; "but I thought it the surest method of getting you
promoted above the intermediate ranks."
"Oh! monsieur," the delighted captain said, "there is no harm done!"
Then he addressed the crowd--
"Well," he asked, "are we ready?"
"Yes! yes! yes!"
"Then forward, march! Beat drums!"
And the drums began to beat, and they all went down the rue de l'Odéon
singing _la Marseillaise._ At the Bussy crossing, from some strategic
manœuvre unknown to me, the troop divided itself into three. One part
went towards the rue Sainte-Marguerite, another to the rue Dauphine and
the third went straight on: I was among the latter. We had to approach
the Louvre by the Pont des Arts, in order to take the bull by the
horns. It was on coming out on the quay that I found the man with the
rampart gun leant up against the wall, groaning, both his shoulder and
his jaw dislocated.
Oh! I must not forget to say that at every street-corner I had
seen stuck up on the walls bills announcing the nomination of the
Provisional Government and the proclamation by MM. La Fayette, Gérard
and de Choiseul calling the people to arms. What a singular effect it
would have produced on those three gentlemen if they had been in my
place and read what I read!
CHAPTER IX
Aspect of the Louvre--Fight on the Pont des Arts--The
dead and wounded--A cannon ball for myself--Madame
Guyet-Desfontaines--Return from the Babylone
barracks--Charras's cockade--The taking of the Tuileries--A
copy of _Christine_--Quadrille danced in the Tuileries
court--The men _who made the Revolution of 1830_
It was thirty-five minutes past ten in the morning by the Institut
clock. The Louvre presented a formidable appearance. All the windows
of the great picture galleries were open, and at each window there
were two Swiss Guards armed with guns. The Charles IX. balcony was
defended by Swiss who had made a rampart with mattresses. And then,
behind, through the gratings of the two gardens that are, I believe,
named the garden of the Infante and the garden of the Queen, we could
see drawn up a double line of Swiss. In the foreground, a regiment
of cuirassiers wound in and out along the parapet, like a great
snake with scales of steel and gold, whose head had already entered
the Tuileries gate, whilst its tail still trailed along the quai de
l'École. In the background, away in the distance, stood the Louvre
Colonnade, almost invisible from the cloud of smoke which arose by
reason of the attack made upon it from the small streets surrounding
the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. On the right, the Tricolour
was floating from Notre-Dame and the Hôtel de Ville. And the breezes
carried the trembling vibrations of the tocsin. A fiery sun burned high
in the white, hot sky. They were firing all along the quay, especially
from the windows and door of a little guard-house, situated by the
river-side, opposite the point where the rue des Saints-Pères runs
into the quay Malaquais. However, both attack and defence were weak:
everyone seemed to be there because he thought it was his duty, and
people were mauling one another to pass the time, till some leader came
along to organise sides.
Our arrival created a diversion just when interest had begun to flag.
There were about a hundred and twenty of us. We divided ourselves in
half (_Égaillâmes_, as they say in the Vendean patois), one part going
back by the Pont Neuf side and the other going along by the Palais
Mazarin, as far as the small guard-house already referred to. I first
of all settled myself under one of the turnstile shelters, but I soon
saw that I should be constantly disturbed by people coming and going
past. I therefore made for the fountain and installed myself behind
the bronze lion that was nearest to the rue Mazarine. I had the great
entrance gate of the palace, therefore, on my right, which, like that
of the Jubilee at St. Peter's in Rome, is only opened once in fifty
years. I had the small door leading to the apartments of persons who
lodged at the Institut on my left. Thus, in front of me was the Pont
des Arts, which presented an object to my view that inspired me with
some disquiet, for it looked very like a piece of cannon in position.
It had a magnificent target before it: no less than a whole regiment of
cuirassiers presenting its flank! And, behind these, the Swiss in their
red coats with their white lace facings, not two hundred yards off. The
mere thought of the situation made one's mouth water; to dwell on it
made the perspiration stand out on one's forehead.
I have elsewhere described my sensations when confronted with danger--I
approach it at first reluctantly, but very quickly familiarise myself
with it. Now, my apprenticeship of the previous day upon the quay
Notre-Dame, and of the morning following at the Artillery Museum, had
removed my first feelings of fear. Moreover, I ought to say that my
position was a good one and that it would take either a very extreme
chance, or a very clever marksman, for a bullet to find me out behind
my lion. I therefore watched with much coolness the scene I am about to
describe.
Out of the hundred or hundred and twenty combatants, the uniforms
of two soldiers of the National Guard were hardly noticeable. Most
of the men who composed the gathering in the midst of which I found
myself were of the lower classes--shopmen and students and street
lads. All were armed with muskets or fowling-pieces, the latter in
the proportion of one to fifteen. The street boys had either pistols
or sabres or swords, and one of the most zealous of them had only a
bayonet. Usually, it was the street lads who marched in front and were
the first in any row; whether from recklessness or ignorance of danger
I cannot say. Probably it was the influence of young hot blood, which
from the age of eighteen pulses in the veins of man at the rate of from
seventy-five to eighty-five beats to the minute; then gradually calms
down, but, with each expiring pulsation, deposits at the bottom of
every heart a shameful vice or an evil thought.
While the regiment of cuirassiers was passing, the fusillade from the
Royal troops was mild and, although very active on our side, it must be
confessed it was without much effect. They were hampered by the line
of horse soldiers which was passing between them and us. But the last
rider had scarcely passed the second garden gate before the real music
began. The heat was insupportable and there was not a breath of air
stirring. The smoke from the guns of the Swiss Guards, therefore, only
cleared away very slowly; soon the whole of the Louvre was surrounded
by a girdle of smoke which hid the Royal troops from our eyes as
completely as the painted clouds, which rise from the wings of a
theatre at the epilogue to a drama, hide the apotheosis being prepared
at the back of the stage from the gaze of the spectators. It was only
wasting shot to attempt to pierce that curtain of smoke. Every now and
then, however, a hole was made, and one could catch a glimpse, through
the clearing, of the white facings on the red coats and the gilded
plates on the bearskin caps of the Swiss Guard.
This was the opportunity the true marksmen waited for, and it was very
seldom that one did not see two or three men totter and disappear
behind their comrades. From our side, during the first attack, we had
one man killed and two wounded. The man that was killed was hit in the
top of the forehead whilst kneeling behind the parapet to take aim.
He leapt up as though on springs, took a few steps backwards, dropped
his musket, turned round twice, fighting the air with his arms, then
fell on his face. One of the two who were wounded was a street lad.
His injury was in the flesh of the thigh. He had not hid behind the
parapet, but had danced on top of it with a pocket pistol in his hand.
He went off, hopping away upon one leg, and disappeared down the rue de
Seine. The other man's wound was more serious. He had received a ball
in the stomach. He fell in a sitting posture, with both hands pressed
on the wounded part, which scarcely bled at all. The hæmorrhage was
probably internal. He was seized with thirst in about ten minutes and
dragged himself towards me, but, when he reached the fountain, he had
not sufficient strength to get to the basin and he called me to his
assistance. I gave him a hand and helped him to climb up. He drank more
than ten mouthfuls in as many minutes; and between the drinks he said--
"Oh! the beggars! They have not missed me!"
And when, from time to time, he saw me put my gun to my shoulder, he
added--
"Be sure you don't miss them!"
Finally, at the end of half an hour, this useless fusillading was
discontinued. Two or three men exclaimed--
"To the Louvre! To the Louvre!"
It was madness, for it was evident enough that there were only a
hundred men or so to deal with two or three hundred of the Swiss Guard.
But, under circumstances like those I am describing, people do not
stop to think of the most reasonable things to be done; since the very
work they are engaged in is almost itself an act of insanity, it is
generally some impossible feat they determine to attempt.
A drummer beat the charge and was the first to dash upon the bridge.
All the street lads followed him, shouting, "Vive la Charte!" and the
main body followed them. I ought to confess that I formed no part
of the main body. As I said, from my slightly elevated post I could
distinguish a gun in position. Now, while it could do nothing but
scatter grapeshot haphazard, it had kept perfectly quiet; but, directly
the assailants debouched on to the bridge, it was unmasked: it showed
itself in its true colours.... I saw the smoking match approach the
touchhole, I effaced myself behind my lion, and, at the same instant,
I heard the sound of the explosion and the whistle of grapeshot as
it splintered the façade of the Institut. The stone broken by the
projectiles fell in a perfect shower round me. Identically the same
thing happened on the Pont des Arts as took place on the suspension
bridge. All the men who were stationed in the narrow space whirled
round; only three or four continued their march forward and five or
six fell, twenty-five or thirty stood firm and the rest took to their
heels. A platoon fire succeeded the cannon, and bullets sang all
round me; soon, my wounded comrade uttered a sigh: a second bullet
had finished him off. Almost immediately after the platoon firing,
the cannon roared out again and the storm of shot passed over my head
a second time. At the second charge, there was no further thought of
advancing, and two men, regarding the water as safer than the planks of
the bridge, leapt into the Seine and swam to the quay of the Institut.
The rest came back with lightning speed, like a flock of frightened
birds, and rushed down the rue Mazarine, the rue des Petits-Augustins
and the sort of blind alley which skirts the Mint.
The quay was instantly deserted, and, though I am by no means vain,
I may state that this third cannon-shot was fired for me alone. I
had a long time previously formed my plan of retreat, and I based it
on the small door of the Institut, which was on my left. Scarcely
had the gun been fired a third time, before the smoke had dispersed
and allowed my manœuvre to be seen, I rushed out and knocked at the
door with loud blows with the butt-end of my gun. It opened without
keeping me long waiting: I will pay that much justice to the porter,
though, generally, in Revolutionary times, porters are not so smart.
I slipped in through the half-opened doorway into shelter. As the
porter was shutting the door, a bullet pierced it, but without wounding
him. When inside, I had quite a choice of friends: I went upstairs
to see Madame Guyet-Desfontaines. I should mention that, at first
sight, my appearance did not produce the effect I expected. They did
not immediately know me; then, when they had recognised 'me, they
considered me pretty badly dressed. My readers will recollect how I
had arrayed myself for the occasion. I went and fetched my gun, which
I had left outside the door for fear of frightening Madame Guyet and
her daughter. The gun soon explained matters. Directly she recognised
me, Madame Guyet became her charmingly sprightly, animated self, in
spite of the gravity of the situation: she is, in this respect, quite
incorrigible. I was nearly dead with hunger, and especially with
thirst; I thereupon unaffectedly made my wants known to my hosts. They
brought me a bottle of Bordeaux, which I drank almost at one draught.
They also brought me a huge bowl of chocolate, and that disappeared
also. I believe I must have eaten everyone else's breakfast!
"Ah!" I said, parodying Napoleon's remark on his return from Russia,
as I stretched myself in a big arm-chair, "it is much better here than
behind the Institut lion!"
Of course, I had to give an account of my Iliad, which, up to then,
consisted of one victory and two retreats. True, the last retreat--with
the exception of the embarrassment of having ten thousand men under
me--might be likened to that of Xenophon. But, on the other hand, the
first might be compared with a Waterloo. I made honourable mention
of the lion, which had probably saved my life, and which possessed,
under the circumstances, that superiority over Androcles' lion,
that it was not repaying a kind act done to it. The upshot of the
delightful welcome I received (the minutest details whereof I can still
remember, after the lapse of more than twenty-two years) was that
Madame Guyet-Desfontaines' house all but became to me what Capua was
to Hannibal two thousand years before. However, with a little moral
courage, I had the advantage over the conqueror of Trebia, Cannes and
Trasimène of tearing myself away in time from the delights that were
spread before me.
I went away by the little gate opening into the rue Mazarine and
regained my lodgings in the rue de l'Université. This time I was
received by my porter as a hero; the position of affairs soon declared
itself. Instead of showing me the door, it was now a question of
raising an Arc de triomphe for me! Joseph was rubbing up the armour
belonging to François I.
"Ah! monsieur," he said, "how beautiful it is! I had not discovered all
the little absurdities that there are on it."
He meant the battle scenes.
I went home to change my shirt (pardon this detail, it will be seen,
later, that it was not without importance in my story), and also to
renew my stock of powder and bullets. But I had not had time to take
off my jacket before I heard a great uproar in the street outside. It
was made by Charras and his troop returning from the barracks in the
rue de Babylone. There had been a frightful slaughter: after half an
hour's siege, they had been obliged to set fire to the barracks, to
dislodge the Swiss Guard. They carried the red coats of the vanquished
enemy at the point of their bayonets as victorious trophies. Charras
(he must remember the circumstance well enough to-day, for he is
not one of those who forget) wore a sleeve from some Swiss Guard's
coat in place of the cockade, which was fastened to the top of his
three-cornered hat and fell coquettishly over his shoulder. They were
all marching upon the Tuileries, with drums to the fore.
At the same moment, the cries increased, coming from the direction of
the château. I turned my eyes in the direction whence they came and,
from my window, which looked out on the rue du Bac, I saw thousands
of letters and papers fluttering into the Tuileries garden. It looked
as though all the wood pigeons about the place were taking flight. It
was the correspondence of Napoleon, of Louis XVIII. and of Charles X.
being scattered to the winds. The Tuileries had been taken. Although
I was not Crillon, I was seized with a sudden desire to go and hang
myself. Now, a man in that state of mind does not think it worth while
changing his shirt. So I replaced my jacket and rushed downstairs. I
rejoined the tail of the column just as it entered the Tuileries by the
gate at the water-side. On the pavilion in the centre, the Tricolour
had replaced the White standard. Joubert, the patriot of the Dauphine
passage, had planted it on the roof and had then fainted away, from
fatigue or joy, or probably both combined. The gates of the Carrousel
had been forced open and people were rushing in by every door, among
them hundreds of women: where did they spring from? No one who
witnessed the spectacle will ever forget it. One student of the École
polytechnique, named Baduel, was being drawn in triumph on a cannon.
Like Achilles, he had been wounded in the heel, but, in his case, by
grapeshot, and not by a poisoned arrow. Neither did he die, although he
expected he should. Had he lost his life on that occasion it would not
have been from his wounds, but from brain-fever, consequent on fatigue,
heat and the exhaustion he had felt during the triumph they had
compelled him to submit to, in spite of his remonstrances, by reason of
the high courage he had shown. Another student, with a bullet through
his chest, was lying on the staircase: they took him up in their
arms, carried him to the first storey and laid him upon the throne
embroidered with fleurs de lys, where over ten thousand of the populace
seated themselves in turn, or several at a time, throughout that day.
Through the windows that looked out on the garden, one could see the
tail end of a regiment of Lancers, as they disappeared under the great
trees. A cab was trying to catch them up; the horse was galloping fast,
for, no doubt, the driver wanted to put himself under protection of the
regiment.
The Tuileries was crowded: people were recognising their friends among
the crowd and embracing and questioning one another--
"Where is such and such a person?"
"He is over there!"
"Where?"
"There!"
Another was wounded--or dead!
And each made a gesture as funeral oration, signifying, "It is a pity!
but, bless me, he died on a grand day!"
And on they would go, from the throne-room to the king's private study,
from there to the king's bedroom. The king's bed, by the way, must
have been out of the common, although I never knew what went on in
that room; for, to judge by the number of spectators that surrounded
it and by their shouts of laughter, something outrageous must have
taken place round it. Perhaps a mock wedding of Democracy with Liberty!
And again the crowd moved on, each individual mingling his voice and
gesticulations with those of the multitude. On they went, following
those who walked ahead, pushed forward by the crowds behind. They
reached the Marshals' Hall. I had never seen these rooms before, and
did not see them again until the fall of King Louis-Philippe, in 1848.
During the eighteen years' reign of the Younger Branch I never set
foot in the Tuileries, except to visit the Duc d'Orléans. But, be it
understood, the Marsan pavilion is not in the least degree part of
the Tuileries, and it was very often a reason for not going to the
Tuileries if one were sent for to the Marsan pavilion. Forgive the
digression, but I am glad to flout those who might say they had seen me
with the king.
The crowd had, as I say, reached the Salle des Maréchaux. The frame of
the portrait of M. de Bourmont, who had recently been made a marshal,
already occupied its position on one of the panels; but although the
name had even been printed on the frame, the portrait had not yet been
inserted. In place of the canvas, by way of substitute no doubt, there
was a large piece of scarlet taffetas. This was torn down and used to
make the red portion of the tricolour favours which each person wore
in his buttonhole. I detached a morsel which had been diverted to this
end. As I was disputing with my neighbours over this strip of stuff, I
heard the sound of several gunshots. They were shooting at the portrait
of the Duc de Raguse in lieu of the original. Four balls had pierced
the canvas, one through the head, two in the breast and the fourth
through the background of the picture. A man of the people climbed up
on the shoulders of a comrade and, with his knife, cut out the portrait
in the shape of a medallion; then, passing his bayonet through the
breast and head, he carried it as the Roman lictors used to carry the
S.P.Q.R. at their triumphs. The portrait had been painted by Gérard. I
went up to the man and offered him a hundred francs for his trophy.
"Oh! citizen," he said, "I would not let you have it if you offered me
a thousand."
Alophe Pourrat next went up to him and offered him his gun in exchange
and got the portrait. He probably has it still.
As I entered the library of the Duchesse de Berry, I noticed a copy of
_Christine_, bound in purple morocco and stamped with the duchess's
arms, lying upon a little work-table. I thought I had a right to
appropriate it. I afterwards gave it to my cousin Félix Deviolaine; who
has probably lost it. I had gone in by the pavilion de Flore and I went
out by the pavilion Marsan. In the courtyard there was a quadrille of
four men, dancing to the piping of a fife and a violin: it was an early
Cancan that was being danced. They were dressed in court dress, with
plumed hats, and the wardrobes of Mesdames les Duchesses d'Angoulême
and de Berry had furnished the costumes for the masquerade. One of
these men had a cashmere shawl on his shoulders worth quite a thousand
crowns. It would have been perfectly safe to bet that he had not a
five-franc piece in his pocket. By the end of the country dance the
shawl was in tatters.
Now, how did it come to pass that the Louvre and the Tuileries and
Carrousel, with their Cuirassiers and Lancers and Swiss, their Royal
Guard and artillery, with three or four thousand men in garrison
besides, had been taken by four or five hundred insurgents? This is
what happened.
Four attacks were directed upon the Louvre: the first by the
Palais-Royal; the second from the rue des Poulies, the rue des
Prêtres-Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois and the quai de l'École; the third
by the Pont des Arts, and the fourth by the Pont Royal. The first was
led by Lothon, whom, as it will be remembered, we left at the top of
rue Guénégaud. He had been hit in the head by a bullet and had fallen
unconscious in the place du Palais-Royal. The second was conducted by
Godefroy Cavaignac, Joubert, Thomas, Bastide, Degousée, Grouvelle and
the brothers Lebon, etc. It was they who took the Louvre, as will be
seen presently. The third was that which had taken place by the Pont
des Arts--the result is known. The fourth, that of the rue du Bac, did
not cross the bridge in reality, until the Tuileries was taken.
We have given an account of the second attack which captured the
Louvre. This success was due, in the first case, to the admirable
courage shown by the assailants and, afterwards, it must be confessed,
by chance, to a false manœuvre: we will call it so in consideration
of the feelings of those who decline to recognise the intervention of
Providence in human affairs.
One anecdote will be sufficient to give an idea of the courage of the
assailants. A child of twelve had climbed, like a chimney-sweep, up one
of the wooden shafts which are erected against the Colonnade to put
rubbish in, and he had planted a tricolour flag on the Louvre in the
face of the Swiss. Fifty shots had been fired at him and he had been
lucky enough to escape without a single one disturbing him! Just at
this moment, as enthusiastic shouts greeted the successful issue of the
child's mad feat, the Duc de Raguse, who had concentrated his forces
round the Carrousel for a last struggle, learnt that the soldiers
stationed on the place Vendôme had begun to enter into communication
with the people.
The capture of the place Vendôme meant the occupation of the rue de
Rivoli, of the conquest of the place Louis XV.,--meant, in a word,
that retreat on Saint-Cloud and Versailles was cut off. The Louvre was
especially guarded by two battalions of Swiss. One alone would have
been enough for its defence. So the marshal conceived the notion of
replacing the troops on the place Vendôme (who, as we have just said,
were threatening defection) by one of these two battalions of Swiss.
He despatched his aide-de-camp, M. de Guise, to M. de Salis, who was
in command of the two battalions. M. de Guise carried orders to bring
back these two battalions. M. de Salis, on receipt of this order, saw
no objection to carrying it out. He was the more ready to follow it,
as one single battalion was enough to defend the Louvre, and that one
had, indeed, been defending it successfully since the morning. The
other battalion had been standing in the courtyard with arms at rest.
M. de Salis next conceived the very natural idea of sending the Duc
de Raguse, not the reserve battalion stationed in the courtyard, but
the one which had been fighting since the morning from the balcony of
Charles IX. and the windows of the picture galleries, on the Colonnade
du Louvre side. He therefore commanded the fresh battalion to the place
of the fatigued one. But he made this mistake--instead of ordering the
fresh battalion to come up, he first ordered the tired battalion to
go down. This manœuvre was executed just at the moment of the highest
enthusiasm and the greatest efforts of the assailants. They saw the
Swiss retire, the firing grow feebler and then cease altogether; they
believed their enemies were beating a retreat and they sprang forward.
The movement was so impetuous that, before the second battalion had
taken the place of those who were being withdrawn, the people had
entered by all the wicket gates and gratings, had spread over the
deserted rooms on the ground floor and were firing from the windows on
the court.
When the Swiss saw the flames and smoke, they thought the awful and
bloody scenes of the 10th of August were about to be repeated. Uneasy,
surprised and taken unprepared, not knowing if their comrades had
retired by superior orders or were beating a retreat, they recoiled and
tumbled hurriedly over one another, never attempting even to return
the fire that was decimating their ranks; they crushed through the
door leading out on the place du Carrousel, suffocating and treading
one another down and flying in complete rout as soon as they were
through the gateway. The Duc de Raguse vainly flung himself into their
midst to try to rally them. Most did not understand French, so could
not tell what was said to them; moreover, fear had turned to terror
and fright to panic. You know what the angel of fear can do when he
shakes his wings over the mob: the fugitives drove everything before
them,--cuirassiers, lancers, police,--crossed that huge space, the
place du Carrousel, without stopping, cleared the Tuileries gate and
scattered themselves in every direction over the garden. Meanwhile, the
assailants had reached the first landing, rushed through the picture
gallery, which they found without defenders, and proceeded to break
in the door at the end of the galleries that leads from the Louvre
to the Tuileries. After that, resistance was no longer possible: the
defenders of the château fled as best they could; the garden and both
the terraces were crowded; the Duc de Raguse was among the last to
withdraw and left the gate de l'Horloge just when Joubert was planting
the Tricolour above his head, and when the people were raining down
from the windows papers from the king's study. The marshal found a
piece of cannon being taken away at the top of the jardin d'Hippomène
and d'Atalante; and, at his command, it was replaced in its battery
and a final volley was fired from it towards the Tuileries, which had
ceased to be the dwelling-place of kings and had become the people's
prize; one of its bullets, a posthumous present from Monarchy, as it
were, cut one of the charming little grooved pillars on the first floor
in two. This last cannon shot did no harm except to Philibert Delorme's
masterpiece, but seemed as though it saluted the Tricolour which was
waving over the pavilion de l'Horloge.
The Revolution of 1830 was accomplished. Accomplished (we will repeat
it, print it, engrave it if necessary on iron and brass, on bronze and
steel), accomplished, not alone by the cautious actors of the past
fifteen years' comedy, who hid, as it were, behind the wings, whilst
the people played that Three Days' bloody drama; not only by Casimir
Périer, Laffitte, Benjamin Constant, Sébastiani, Guizot, Mauguin, by
Choiseul, Odilon Barrot and the three Dupins. No! those actors were
not even behind the wings; that would have been too near the stage for
them! They kept at home, carefully guarded, hermetically sealed. With
such as they, there was never any mention of resistance other than one
legally organised, and, when the Louvre and Tuileries were being taken,
they still went on discussing in their drawing-rooms the terms of a
protest which many of them yet considered too risky a step to forward.
The people who accomplished the Revolution of 1830 were those I saw
at work, and who saw me there in their midst; those who entered the
Louvre and the Tuileries by the broken doors and windows were, alas!
(I may be pardoned this mournful exclamation, since most of them are
now either dead or prisoners or exiled), Godefroy Cavaignac, Baude,
Degousée, Higonnet, Grouvelle, Coste, Guinard, Charras, Étienne Arago,
Lothon, Millotte, d'Hostel, Chalas, Gauja, Baduel, Bixio, Goudchaux,
Bastide, the three brothers Lebon (Olympiade, Charles and Napoleon:
the first was killed and the other two wounded in the attack on the
Louvre), Joubert, Charles Teste, Taschereau, Béranger and others whose
forgiveness I ask if I have either forgotten or not named them. I also
ask pardon of some of those whom I name and who would perhaps prefer
not to have been mentioned. Those who accomplished the Revolution of
1830 were the fiery youths of the heroic Proletariat which, it is true,
lit the fires, but extinguished them with their own blood; those men of
the people who are scattered when the work is achieved, and who die of
hunger after having mounted guard by the Treasury gates, who stand on
tiptoe with bare feet, in the streets, to watch the convivial parasites
of power admitted to the care of offices, to the plums of good posts
and to a share in all high honours, to the detriment of their less
fortunate brethren.
The men who made the Revolution of 1830 were the same who, two years
later, were killed at Saint-Mery for the same cause. But, this time,
a change of name was given them just because they themselves had not
changed their principles, and, instead of being called "heroes," they
were styled "rebels." Only those renegades who change their opinions to
suit the times can avoid the epithet of rebel, when different powers
succeed one another.
BOOK III
CHAPTER I
I go in search of Oudard--The house at the corner of the rue
de Rohan--Oudard is with Laffitte--Degousée--General Pajol
and M. Dupin--The officers of the 53rd Regiment--Interior
of Laffitte's salon--Panic--A deputation comes to offer La
Fayette the command of Paris--He accepts--Étienne Arago and
the tricoloured cockade--History of the Hôtel de Ville from
eight in the morning to half-past three in the afternoon
Now would you like to know what was going on at M. Laffitte's, in
the same drawing-room where, two days later, a King of France, or
rather, a King of the French, was to be created, just at the moment
that the Tuileries had been taken? I can tell you: and this is why.
When I left the Tuileries, I had been seized with a burning desire
to find out whether Oudard was still, on the evening of 29 July, of
the same opinion as on the morning of the 28th, with respect to the
Duc d'Orléans' devotion to His Majesty Charles X. So I went to No.
216 rue Saint-Honoré. At the place de l'Odéon I had been very nearly
knocked down by a _Gradus ad Parnassum_; and, as I approached No. 216,
I was also nearly knocked down by a dead body. They were throwing the
Swiss out of the windows at the corner of the rue de Rohan. This was
happening at a hatter's, the front of whose house was riddled with
bullets. A post of Swiss had been placed by it as an advance guard and
they had forgotten to relieve them, but the guards had kept their post
with true Swiss courage, and no higher praise than that could be given.
The house had been carried by storm, a dozen men had been killed and
the bodies were being thrown out from the windows, as I have said,
without even a warning cry being given to the passers beneath. I went
up the stairs to the offices of the Palais-Royal. Now, my rifle, that
had caused such consternation on the previous day, was received with
acclamation. I found the office-boy busily occupied in putting things a
little straight in our establishment. That portion of the palace having
been invaded, they had fired from the windows, and this had not been
done without causing some disorder among the papers. But there was no
sign of Oudard! I inquired after him from the office-boy and learnt, in
confidence, that I should, in all probability, find him at Laffitte's
house. I have said already how I had made acquaintance with the famous
banker through the service he had rendered me. I therefore made my way
to his mansion, where I felt sure I should not altogether be looked
upon as an intruder. It took me more than an hour to get from the
Palais-Royal to the Hôtel Laffitte, so crowded were the streets and so
many acquaintances did one meet on the way.
At the door I ran into Oudard.
"Ah! by Jove!" I said, laughing, "you are just the man I am looking
for!"
"I! what do you want with me?"
"To know whether your views on the present situation are unchanged."
"I shall not express any opinion until to-morrow," he replied.
And, making a sign of farewell, he disappeared as fast as he could.
Where was he off to? I did not know until three days later: he went to
Neuilly to carry this short ultimatum to the Duc d'Orléans:--
"Choose between a crown and a passport!"
The ultimatum was drawn up by M. Laffitte.
I had flattered myself with vain hope in believing I should be able to
enter Laffitte's house: courts, gardens, antechambers, drawing-rooms
were all crammed; there were even curious spectators on the roofs of
the houses opposite that looked down over the Hôtel courtyard. But it
must be said that the men gathered together there were not all in a
state of enthusiasm and appreciative of the situation. Certain stories
of what was passing inside filtered through to the crowd outside, at
which they grumbled loudly as they listened. One story will give an
idea of the cautious prudence of the deputies assembled at Laffitte's
house.
When Degousée had, that morning, seen the Hôtel de Ville fall into
the hands of the people, he left Baude installed there and rushed off
to General Pajol to offer him the command of the National Guard. But
General Pajol replied that he could not take any such decided steps
without the authorisation of the deputies.
"Then where the devil are there any deputies?" asked Degousée.
"Look for them at M. de Choiseul's," General Pajol replied.
So Degousée went there. M. de Choiseul was at his wits' end: he
had just learnt that he had been made a member of the Provisional
Government the night before, and that, during the night, he had
signed a seditious proclamation. M. Dupin, senior, was with the duke,
doubtless having a consultation upon this unexpected bit of French
legislation. The idea proposed by Degousée of reorganising a corps
that could not fail to become a Conservative power delighted M. Dupin
immensely. He took a pen and wrote these words:--
"The deputies assembled in Paris authorise General Pajol to take the
command of the _Parisian Militia._"
"_The Parisian Militia!_" Degousée repeated. "Why do you call them by
that name?"
"Because the National Guard has been legally dissolved by the Ordinance
of King Charles X.," was M. Dupin's reply.
"Come, come," Degousée went on to say, "don't let us quibble over
terms. Sign this quickly and kindly tell me where I shall find your
_deputies assembled in Paris._"
"At the house of M. Laffitte," M. Dupin replied.
And he signed the authorisation without making any further difficulties.
The deputies were, indeed, assembled with Laffitte. And Degousée, more
fortunate than I, thanks, no doubt, to the paper which he carried,
had been able to reach the room where the deliberations were going on.
The deputies looked at the afore-mentioned three lines and, seeing M.
Dupin's signature, signed in their turn; but they had no sooner done so
than they were seized with terror: Degousée, who never let the grass
grow under his feet, and who, besides, was aching to be at the assault
of the Louvre, had already reached the street door when a deputy caught
him up.
"Monsieur," he said, "will you permit me to look at that paper once
again?"
"Certainly," Degousée replied unsuspectingly.
The deputy stepped aside and tore off the signatures, then returned the
paper, folded up, to Degousée, who took it, not discovering the missing
signatures subtracted by the clever conjurer, until he reached General
Pajol's door.
My readers remember La Fontaine's fable of _le Lièvre et les
Grenouilles_ (The hare and the frog)? The worthy man foresaw
everything, even that which was thought almost impossible, namely, that
M. Dupin would find a greater coward than himself! That was the story
going the round of the knots of people standing about outside.
But let us hasten to add that La Fayette had not yet arrived at the
Hôtel Laffitte when the incident took place that we have just related.
He arrived as a man of the populace, gun in hand and face blackened
with powder, was running in to announce the taking of the Louvre. A
sergeant of the 53rd Regiment of the line had made such good use of
his feet and hands that he had got into the drawing-room, where he
announced that that regiment was on the point of fraternising with the
people. The officers only asked that some person of high position might
be sent them in order that their going over to the Revolutionary cause
might not look like an ordinary defection. They sent Colonel Heymès,
in civilian dress, and M. Jean-Baptiste Laffitte, with several members
of the National Guard, whom they had recruited as they came along the
boulevard. The regiment was arriving just as I came: five officers
entered the council hall and I with them. M. Laffitte was near the
garden window, which was open, although the outside blinds were closed;
he was seated in a large arm-chair with his leg resting on a footstool.
He had sprained his foot the morning before. Behind him was Béranger,
leaning upon the back of his chair, and, on one side, stood General La
Fayette, inquiring after his health; in the recess of a second window,
Georges La Fayette was talking with M. Laroche, M. Laffitte's nephew.
Thirty or forty deputies conversing in groups filled up the rest of the
drawing-room. Suddenly, a fearful sound of firing was heard and the cry
resounded--
"The Royal Guard is marching towards the Hôtel!"
I have seen many spectacles, from that of _Paul et Virginie_, at the
Opéra-Comique, the first I ever saw and admired, down to _la Barrière
de Clichy_, at the Cirque, one of the latest I have managed, but I
never saw such a change of scene as that! One could have imagined that
every deputy had been on a trap-door and had disappeared at a whistle.
In the turn of a hand there was absolutely not a single person left in
the salon but Laffitte, who remained still seated, without a trace of
emotion apparent in his face; Béranger, who remained steadfast where he
stood; M. Laroche, who came to his uncle's side; La Fayette, who raised
his noble and venerable head and took one step towards the door, which
meant facing danger; Georges La Fayette, who rushed towards his father;
and the five officers who formed a bodyguard round M. Laffitte. All the
others had disappeared by the private doors or had jumped out through
the windows. M. Méchin had distinguished himself by being among the
latter. I was intending to take advantage of the situation to present
my compliments to the master of the house, but General La Fayette
stopped me on the way.
"What the deuce is the matter?" he asked me.
"I have no idea, General," I replied; "but I can confidently affirm
that neither the Swiss nor the Royal Guard are here.... I saw them
leave the Tuileries, and, at the rate they were going, they must, by
this time, be nearer Saint-Cloud than the Hôtel Laffitte."
"Never mind! try and find out what it is all about."
I was advancing towards the door when an officer came in and brought
the solution to the riddle.
The soldiers of the 6th Regiment of the line had met those of the
53rd and had followed the example of the latter in siding with the
popular cause; in sign of their joy they had discharged their rifles
in the air. This explanation given, we went in search of the missing
deputies whom we at last found here, there and everywhere. Only two
failed to answer the roll-call. However, by dint of further hunting,
they were discovered hiding in a stable. If you wish it, I am quite
ready to give their names. A deputation was introduced a few minutes
later; Garnier-Pagès was of its number, if I remember rightly. This
deputation had taken Taschereau's placards and proclamation as genuine,
and had come to entreat Generals La Fayette and Gérard to enter upon
their duties. General Gérard, who had but just arrived, eluded the
proposition. Gérard's dream was to become a minister of Charles X. with
M. de Mortemart, and not a member of a temporary and Revolutionary
Government. La Fayette's response to the deputation was nearly the same
that he had given me the night before.
"My friends, if you think I can be useful to the cause of liberty, make
use of me"; and he placed himself in the hands of the deputation.
The cry of "Vive La Fayette!" echoed through the salons of the Hôtel
Laffitte and were taken up in the street outside. La Fayette turned
towards the deputies.
"You see, gentlemen," he said, "I am being offered the command of Paris
and I think I ought to accept it."
It was not the moment for dissent, and adherence was unanimous.
Everybody present, including even M. Bertin de Vaux, went up to La
Fayette to offer him congratulations, but I could not catch the words.
I was already in the antechamber, courtyard and street shouting--
"Make room for General La Fayette, who is going to the Hôtel de Ville!"
The unanimity of the shouts of "Vive La Fayette!" proved that the hero
of 1789 had not lost an atom of his popularity in 1830.
What a splendid thing is Liberty! an immortal and infallible goddess!
The Convention had its day, the Directory, the Consulate, the Empire
and the Restoration all passed away too and heads and crowns fell with
them; but the man whom Liberty had consecrated King of the people in
1789 found himself once more King of the people in 1830.
La Fayette went out, leaning upon Carbonnel, accompanied by a deputy,
whose name I did not know until I inquired: it was Audry de Puyraveau.
Everybody, men, women and children, formed a procession after the
illustrious old man, whom we honoured and glorified because we knew
that in his person he embodied the chief principle of Revolution.
And yet, although he was so advanced in his views, he was then far
out-distanced by those of younger people!
At the door of the _National_ offices in the rue Neuve-Saint-Marc,
La Fayette caught sight of Étienne Arago, wearing a tricolour
cockade. "Monsieur Poque," he said, addressing one of the persons who
accompanied him, "go and beg that young man to take off his cockade."
Arago came to La Fayette.
"I ask pardon, General," he said, "but I do not think I can have
understood."
"My young friend, I beg you to take off that cockade."
"Why, General?"
"Because it is a little premature.... Later, later we will see."
"General," replied Étienne, "I have been wearing a tricolour in my
buttonhole since yesterday, and in my hat since this morning. There
they are and there they will remain!"
"Obstinate fellow!" murmured the general, as he went on his way.
They suggested he should have a horse from Pellier's livery stables,
but he refused. So it took nearly an hour and a half to go from the rue
d'Artois to the Hôtel de Ville. He reached it about half-past three.
But I must give the history of the Hôtel de Ville from eight that
morning, when it had been definitely taken by the people, to the
moment when General La Fayette came to occupy it at half-past three.
About seven in the morning, the people noticed that the Hôtel had
been evacuated by the troops. The news was instantly carried to the
_National_ offices. It was important that possession should be taken
of it, so Baude and Étienne Arago went. At nine o'clock they were
installed inside. From that very moment, and visionary as it was,
the Provisional Government was installed in office. A man had risen
up who did not shrink before the terrible responsibility which made
so many people hang back. That man was Baude. He constituted himself
Secretary of a non-existent Government. He issued numberless orders,
proclamations and decrees, which he signed
"BAUDE, _Secretary to the Provisional Government._"
We said that he had entered the Hôtel de Ville at nine o'clock. By
eleven, the municipal safe was examined and found to contain five
million francs. At eleven o'clock, the master bakers were summoned, and
they declared on their own responsibility that Paris was provisioned
for a month. Moreover, at eleven o'clock, commissions were set up in
all the twelve arrondissements of Paris, with instructions to put
themselves into communication with the Hôtel de Ville. Five or six
devoted patriots rallied round Baude and were sufficient for his
working staff. Étienne Arago was one of these. Reports, orders, decrees
and proclamations were placed between the barrel and the ramrod of
Arago's rifle and carried to the _National_ offices. He went by way
of the rue de la Vannerie, the market of the _Innocents_, and the rue
Montmartre. From ten that morning not a single obstacle had impeded his
course. In accordance with Marshal Marmont's order the whole of the
troops had concentrated round the Tuileries.
While Étienne was carrying off the proclamation announcing the
downfall of the Bourbons, signed "BAUDE, _Secretary of the Provisional
Government_," he met a former actor named Charlet, in the market
of the Innocents, who was walking in front of an immense crowd of
people which filled up the whole of the square. The two principal
personages in that crowd, those who appeared to be conducting it or to
be conducted by it, were a man dressed as a captain, and another in
the uniform of a general. The man in captain's uniform was Évariste
Dumoulin, the editor of the _Constitutionnel_, to whom I have referred
apropos of Madame Valmonzey and _Christine._ The man in the general's
uniform was General Dubourg. Nobody knew who General Dubourg was or
where he sprang from, or whether he had been to an old-clothes shop
and either borrowed or hired or bought his general's uniform. But the
epaulettes were wanting, and this was too important an accessory to be
neglected. Charlet, the actor, went and fetched a pair of epaulettes
from the property stores of the Opéra-Comique and brought them to the
general. And, thus complete, he set off at the head of his procession.
"What is all this crowd? Étienne asked of Charlet.
"It is General Dubourg's procession starting for the Hôtel de Ville."
"Who is General Dubourg?"
"General Dubourg is General Dubourg," said Charlet.
And there was indeed no other explanation to be offered.
General Dubourg had presented himself before Higonnet and Degousée at
the Mairie des Petits-Pères the previous day.
"Gentlemen," he asked, "do you require a general?"
"A general?" Degousée repeated. "In Revolutionary times it only needs
a tailor to make anything or anybody--and, given sufficient tailors,
there will be no lack of generals."
The general made a mental note of the expression, but, instead of
applying to a tailor, he did what was more economical and expeditious.
He went to a second-hand clothes dealer! But then it was fitting that a
general of fortune should have a makeshift for a uniform.
Well, the general and his uniform combined went to the Hôtel de
Ville. Now, it is the proper thing for processions to march at a slow
pace, and this particular one did not depart from the usual custom.
Étienne had time to go and deposit his despatch at the offices of the
_National_ and, by hurrying slightly, he was able to return to the
Hôtel de Ville before General Dubourg had effected his entrance.
"Baude," he said, "do you know what is coming?"
"No."
"A general!"
"What general?"
"General Dubourg.... Do you know the person?"
"Not from Adam or Eve! Is he in uniform?"
"Yes."
"A uniform will go down well! Hurrah for General Dubourg! We will put
him in a back room and show him off when occasion offers."
General Dubourg entered to the shouts of "Vive le general Dubourg!"
They took him to the back room Baude pointed out, and when he was
there--
"What do you wish, General?" they asked him.
"A bit of bread and a chamber-pot," replied the general. "I am dying of
hunger, and desire to make water!"
They gave him what he wanted. Whilst he devoured his piece of bread
Baude brought him two proclamations to sign. He signed one without
difficulty, but refused to sign the other. Baude took it and signed it
with a shrug of his shoulders--"BAUDE, _Secretary to the Provisional
Government._"
Poor Provisional Government! It would have been curious to see what its
behaviour would have been if Charles X. had returned to Paris.
Arago was on his way carrying these two proclamations, when he met a
new troop near Saint-Eustache, proceeding to an attack on the Louvre.
He could not refrain from joining it.
"Bah!" he said, "the proclamations will wait; let us go to the most
pressing business first." And to the Louvre he went.
When the Louvre was taken, he took his proclamations to the _National_
and there announced the people's victory. It was here that General La
Fayette had seen him with a tricolour cockade and was made uneasy by
his boldness.
When Étienne heard that the general was going to the Hôtel de Ville he
did the same for him that he had done for General Dubourg: he ran to
the Hôtel to announce to Baude the arrival of General La Fayette. In
fairness to General Dubourg be it said that he did not even attempt to
dispute the position of the new arrival, although he had come later
than himself. He came forward to receive him on the steps and, bowing
respectfully, said--
"_À tout seigneur, tout honneur!_"
For five hours, he had been master of Paris; and, for two of those
five, his name had been on all lips. He was to reappear a second time
to be hounded out of the Hôtel de Ville, and a third when he was very
nearly assassinated. When he arrived, he sent for the tricolour tent
and an upholsterer.
When the latter came--"Monsieur," the general said to him, "I want a
flag."
"What colour?" the man asked.
"Black!" replied the general; "black shall be the colour of France
until she shall have regained her liberty!"
And ten minutes afterwards a black flag floated over the Hôtel de
Ville.
CHAPTER II
General La Fayette at the Hôtel de Ville--Charras and his
men--"The Prunes of Monsieur"--The Municipal Commission--Its
first Act--Casimir Périer's bank--General Gérard--The
Duc de Choiseul--What happened at Saint-Cloud--The three
negotiators--It is too late--M. d'Argout with Laffitte
As soon as General La Fayette was installed at the Hôtel de Ville, it
immediately became as full of people as it had been deserted before his
arrival. In the midst of all the shouts of joy, clamouring enthusiasm
and yells of triumph, the poor general did not know to whom to listen.
Men of the people, students, pupils from the École polytechnique, all
came with their own particular tale. The general replied--
"Very good! very good!" and shook hands with the messenger, who rushed
off down the stairs, delighted, shouting--
"General La Fayette shook hands with me! Hurrah for General La Fayette!"
Charras arrived, in due course, with his hundred or hundred and fifty
men.
"Here I am, General," he said.
"Ah! You, my young friend!" said La Fayette. "You are welcome"; and he
embraced him.
"Yes, General, I am here, but I am not alone."
"Who have you with you?"
"My hundred and fifty men."
"And what have they done?"
"They have acted like heroes, General! They took the prison Montaigu,
the barrack de l'Estrapade and the one in the rue de Babylone."
"Bravo!"
"Yes, you may indeed say so! But now there is nothing left for them to
take, what must I do with them?"
"Why, tell them to return quietly to their homes."
Charras laughed.
"Homes? You don't really mean that, General!"
"I do, really; they must be fatigued after the tasks they have
performed."
"But, General, three-quarters of the brave fellows have no homes to go
to, and the other quarter, if they went home, would not find either a
morsel of bread or a halfpenny to buy any with."
"Ah! the deuce! that alters the case," said the general. "Then let them
have a hundred sous per head."
Charras submitted the general's proposal to his men.
"Oh!... Come now!" they said, "does he think we are fighting for the
sake of money?"
Baude ordered a distribution of bread and meat and, when it was done,
Charras camped with his troop upon the square of the Hôtel de Ville.
Madame Guyet-Desfontaines' cup of chocolate and bottle of Bordeaux
wine were now things of the past, and I felt as pressing a desire for
a piece of bread to eat as had General Dubourg when he reached the
Hôtel de Ville. I went to a wine merchant's at the corner of la place
de Grève and the quai Pelletier and asked for some dinner. His house
was riddled with bullets and he had become the possessor of a fine
selection of grapeshot. He meant to set them up above his door as a
future sign, with the following words inscribed above them:--
AUX PRUNES DE MONSIEUR
You know that the Comte d'Artois, as in the case of all the younger
brothers of the kings of France, was styled "Monsieur" before he became
Charles X. I approved the happy notion of the wine merchant, and
flattered him so cleverly that I wheedled him out of a bottle of wine,
a piece of bread and a sausage.
I was fully determined not to lose sight of the Hôtel de Ville and to
take note of all that passed there. I found that Revolutions had an
extremely amusing side. Pray excuse me, it was the first I had seen.
Now that I have lived to see a third I do not find them quite so funny.
But, as we have many incidents to relate in these humble Memoirs which
that arch-prude History leaves untold and as we have, therefore, no
time to lose, let us say, on the one hand, what was happening at
Saint-Cloud and, on the other, what was being plotted at M. Laffitte's,
whilst I was drinking my bottle of wine and eating my bread and sausage
at the sign of the _Prunes de Monsieur_, and whilst General La Fayette
was busy installing himself in his dictatorial chair in the Hôtel de
Ville, embracing Charras and sending his men to bed, since he thought
they must badly need to rest.
Let us begin at the Hôtel Laffitte. La Fayette had scarcely left the
salon to take up the dictatorship of Paris, when they began to be
afraid of leaving the hero of the battle of the Federation twenty-four
hours alone at the head of affairs, and set to work to discover some
efficacious method of counterbalancing his power. They appointed
General Gérard _Director of active operations_ (an unknown office
which they had invented for the occasion); and he was to be backed up
by a Municipal Commission composed of MM. Casimir Périer, Laffitte,
Odier, Lobau, Audry de Puyraveau and Mauguin. But, to form a part of
a Municipal Commission was much too bold a step for M. Odier; and
he refused. M. de Schonen was appointed in his stead. M. Laffitte's
sprained foot was made the pretext for establishing the Commission
at his house. Thus, everything was organised to combat General La
Fayette's revolutionary sway. This was how the bourgeoisie began its
reactionary work the very same day that popular enthusiasm and triumph
was at its height.
Make friends again, rejoice, approach one another with shouts of joy,
embrace, you men of the faubourgs, young people from the colleges,
students, poets and artists! Raise your hands to heaven, thank God,
and cry hosannahs! Your dead are not yet buried, your wounds not
yet healed; your lips are yet black with powder, your hearts still
beat joyfully at the thought of liberty, and already intriguing men,
financial men and those in uniforms who went and hid trembling and
praying whilst you were fighting, are shamelessly approaching to snatch
victory and liberty out of your hands, to wrest the palms from the
one, and to clip the wings of the other; to ravish your two chaste
goddesses. Whilst you are shooting a man in the place du Louvre, for
having stolen a silver-gilt vase, whilst you are shooting a man under
the Pont d'Arcole for stealing some silver plate, you are insulted and
slandered out there in that big fine mansion, which you will some day
buy back by a national subscription (you short-memoried children with
hearts of gold!), and give it back to its owner when he is ruined and
has only an income left of four hundred thousand francs! _Audite et
intelligite!_ Listen and learn! Here is the first Act of that Municipal
Commission which had just been self-elected:--
"The deputies present in Paris have had to assemble in
order to remedy the grave dangers which are threatening the
security of persons and property. A Municipal Commission
has been formed to watch over the interests of all in the
absence of regular organisation.".
Royalists, beware! there is an edict of good King Saint-Louis giving
power to pierce the tongue of blasphemers with a red-hot iron! This
Commission had to have a secretary at the Hôtel de Ville and Odilon
Barrot was appointed. It happened that, at the same time as the
Commission was signing this insulting decree, they came and announced
to it that half the combatants were dying of hunger in the public
squares and were asking for bread. They turned towards M. Casimir
Périer with one accord--the man who had offered the Duc de Raguse four
millions the previous day.
"Well, messieurs," he replied, "I am truly sorry for the poor devils,
but it is past four o'clock and my cash-room is closed."
And that was a man who had been a Minister and governed the French
people--a man whose sons had been ambassadors to and representatives of
the French nation!
At five o'clock, General Gérard condescended to show himself to the
crowd. He still wore the white cockade in his hat, and it excited such
comment that the general was forced to take it out; but no amount of
persuasion could make him don the tricolour cockade in its place.
The Duc de Choiseul entered the Hôtel Laffitte as General Gérard was
leaving it; the poor duke, whose complexion at ordinary times was quite
yellow, now looked green. He had had enough to make him so! He had been
taking part in the Provisional Government since the morning, signing
proclamations and issuing decrees! Whilst fighting was going on in the
streets, he had not dared to venture out of doors; he was too much in
fear of being compromised and still more afraid of being killed. When
the firing was stopped, M. de Choiseul had half opened his shutters,
and he perceived that everybody was in the streets and that the city
was in a state of rejoicing: he had descended his carpeted stairs step
by step, had ventured one foot outside his Hôtel and had finally risked
going as far as M. Laffitte's. What did he want to do there? By Jove!
that is not a difficult question to answer: he came to protest against
the abominable forger who had abused his name and who had held it in so
little respect as to link it with that of M. Motié de La Fayette! True,
M. de Choiseul; although descended from a good Auvergnese family, M.
Motié de La Fayette did not spring from Raymond III., Count of Langres,
and from Alix de Dreux, granddaughter of Louis le Gros; but I do not
know that he could number among his ancestors any accused of poisoning
a Dauphin of France, at the instigation of Austria. That fact should
have been taken into consideration and should have made the duke more
lenient to the poor gentleman and his family.
Now that we have seen what was passing at the Hôtel Laffitte, let us
see what was happening at Saint-Cloud. They were furious against the
Duc de Raguse; and they had not merely said that he had not defended
Paris properly, but that he had betrayed them. Luckless fate pursued
this man, accused by all sides, even by that to which he had devoted
himself! The dauphin was substituted to take command in his place. All
knew what a grand general the dauphin was! Did he not conquer Spain and
drive out that lucky, foolhardy fellow of a Napoleon? His repartees,
too, were they not most felicitously turned? He came to the bois de
Boulogne to receive the troops and went up to a captain, asking--
"How many men have you lost, Captain? How many men have you lost?"
The dauphin had a habit of saying his sentences twice over.
"Many, monseigneur!" the officer replied sorrowfully.
"But you have plenty left still--plenty left?" His Highness said, with
the tactful manner that was natural to him!
The troops continued their retreat and reached Saint-Cloud depressed
with fatigue, broken down with heat and dying with hunger. They were
not expected and nothing was prepared for them. The Duc de Bordeaux
dined, and M. de Damas ordered the dishes that came from the prince's
table to be sent out to the soldiers. The child took the dishes and
himself handed them to the servants-in-waiting upon him. The hour
predicted by Barras had come, but the poor royal child had been taught
no other trade than that of being a prince--a bad trade in our days:
ask His Majesty Napoleon II. and His Highness the Duc de Bordeaux, or
Monseigneur le Comte de Paris.
However, Doctor Thibaut's negotiation had produced its effects and,
whilst General Gérard was sticking to his white cockade at half-past
five on the afternoon of 29 July, M. de Mortemart was reaching
Saint-Cloud at seven that same evening. Charles X. did not give him a
warm welcome; he did not like him and, indeed, M. de Mortemart was one
of those doubtful Royalists, attainted with Republicanism, like the
La Fayettes and Lameths and Broglies. M. de Mortemart tried to force
the king into making concessions; but the king had replied with a
determination that twenty-four hours later he was to belie--
"I will give no concessions, monsieur! I witnessed the events of 1789
and have not forgotten them. I do not wish to ride in a cart, like my
brother; I choose to ride on horseback."[1]
Unfortunately for this fine resolution, the affairs of Paris changed
their appearance the next morning. It was then Charles X. who urged M.
de Mortemart to accept the Ministry, and M. de Mortemart who, in his
turn, declined. He saw that the hour had gone by for a mixed Ministry
to be effective, and made an intermittent fever, caught on the shores
of the Danube, the excuse for refusing. But Charles X. had reached the
point when kings no longer try to hide their fears, but openly utter
cries of distress.
"Ah! Monsieur le Duc," the aged monarch exclaimed, "you refuse, then,
to save my life and that of my Ministers? That is not the part of a
faithful subject, monsieur!"
The duke bowed.
"Sire," he said, "if that is what you demand of me, I will accept!"
"Good--I thank you," replied the king.
Then, in a whisper--
"But it remains to be seen if the people will be satisfied with you...."
The violent measures imposed upon the old king were so bitter to him,
that, even before the man who had been willing to sacrifice himself for
his sake, he could not restrain his anger.
Three political personages were waiting in an adjacent room--thus, in
our polite tongue, we speak of peers, deputies, senators, magistrates
and councillors who take the oath of allegiance to monarchies, and
who defend them so well, that, in forty years, they have allowed four
to slip through their fingers! These political personages were M. de
Vitrolles,--whom Doctor Thibaut had gone to look for on the evening of
27 July, to lay before him the Coalition,--Mortemart and Gérard; M.
de Sémonville, the man of apocryphal flags, of whom M. de Talleyrand
said, when he saw him falling away, "What interest can he take in
that?" M. d'Argout who, in 1848, became so ardent a Republican that he
dismissed from his offices my beloved and close friend Lassagne, who
had obtained with him a small post at three to four thousand francs
salary, because he recognised him as having been secretary to King
Louis-Philippe.
"O holy discretion!" as said Brutus.
While they were waiting, M. de Polignac entered. The prince soon
guessed what the three negotiators had come about; two of them were
personal friends of his. They had come to ask for his dethronement.
There was a greatness about the Prince de Polignac; a smaller-minded
man would have attempted to prevent them gaining access to the king;
but he at once introduced them into Charles X.'s cabinet. Perhaps he
also reckoned upon the king's well-known aversion towards M. d'Argout.
The king had just agreed to the Ministry of Mortemart. He received
these gentlemen, who laid their mission before him. Charles X. did
not even let them get to the end but, with a gesture at once full of
bitterness and of nobility, he said--
"Gentlemen, go to the Parisians and tell them that the king revokes the
Ordinances."
These gentlemen gave vent to the expression of their joy in murmurs of
satisfaction. But the king went on to say--
"Allow me, at the same time, to tell you that I believe this revocation
to be fatal to the interests of the Monarchy and of France!"
The interests of Monarchy and of France! Why on earth did Charles X.
talk of these to such men? What did they care for beyond their own
private interests? They departed in a carriage at full gallop. Upon
the road they met all Paris in arms pouring out of the houses into the
streets and from out the suburbs. M. de Sémonville shouted to that
crowd of bare-armed men with bloodstained shirts--
"My friends, the king has revoked the Ordinances; the Ministers have
been chucked out."
He thought he was speaking in the language of the people, but he was
really only uttering the jargon of the lowest rabble. M. de Vitrolles
was shaking hands freely all round. If the men who pressed his hands
had known his name, they would have throttled him instead!
When the negotiators reached the quays they were obliged to abandon
their carriages, as the barricades were beginning and, with them, no
favouritism: locomotion was the same for all. When they reached the
Hôtel de Ville and were climbing the flight of steps they met Marrast,
and, recognising the three negotiators, he stopped to look at them. M.
de Sémonville did not know Marrast, but, seeing a young man elegantly
attired, in the midst of that ragged crowd, he addressed him.
"Young man," he said, "can we speak with General La Fayette?"
He dared not say _monsieur_, and did not wish to address him as
_citoyen_ (citizen).
Marrast directed him; and these gentlemen were introduced into the
midst of the Municipal Commission. They were going to begin to declare
their mission without its being thought necessary to inform General La
Fayette, whom they had come to seek. It would, perhaps, have suited
some members of the Municipal Commission for La Fayette not to be
there; but M. de Schonen and Audry de Puyraveau, the most enthusiastic,
and deeply implicated of the Commission, sent for him. They proclaimed
the Ministry of Mortemart and Gérard.
"But, gentlemen," Mauguin interrupted, "two Ministers do not form a
Government."
"The king," said M. de Sémonville, "willingly consents to the addition
of M. Casimir Périer."
And he turned with a gracious smile towards the banker, who went
terribly pale.
In the same moment, Casimir Périer received a letter which he read. All
eyes were fixed upon him.... He made a gesture expressive of refusal.
There was a brief moment of silence and hesitation, each trying to
avoid being the first to answer, feeling the importance of his reply.
Then M. de Schonen rose and broke the silence, and in firm tones
uttered these terrible words:---
"It is too late.... The throne of Charles X. has foundered in blood
...!"
Eighteen years later, these same words, repeated in the Tribune by
M. de Lamartine and addressed in their turn to the envoys of King
Louis-Philippe, were to hurl down the throne occupied by the Younger
Branch, as they had done that of the Elder.
The negotiators wanted to press matters forward.
"Come! come!" said Audry de Puyraveau, "let us have no more of this,
gentlemen, or I will call up the people, and we shall soon see what
their wishes are!"
The deputies withdrew; but M. Casimir Périer went out by another door,
and joined them on the staircase.
"Go and find M. Laffitte," he said to them as he passed; "perhaps
something might be done from that quarter."
And he disappeared. Did he wish to transfer the negotiations to the Duc
d'Orléans, or was he unwilling to detach himself entirely from King
Charles X.?
M. de Sémonville shook his head and withdrew.
To go and find M. Laffitte, who was nothing but a financier, bah! La
Fayette might perhaps be tolerated. He was certainly a Revolutionary,
but one of a good family, who, when a boy, had worn powder and red
heels, and had kissed the queen's hand at l'Œil-de-bœuf.
It was on the awful morning of 6 October that he had been granted
this last grace. M. Laffitte was only a meritorious member of the
proletariat, whose nobility of character and good works had made him
powerful; they could not negotiate the interests of a descendant
of Saint-Louis with an upstart like that! MM. de Vitrolles and
d'Argout were not so proud as M. de Sémonville. Casimir Périer gave
them a passport to enable them to enter Laffitte's mansion without
difficulties. M. d'Argout, who was only unpopular, kept to his own
name, but M. de Vitrolles, who was execrated, had his name given out
as M. Arnoult. At the door the courage of M. de Vitrolles failed him:
he pushed M. d'Argout inside the salon and remained behind in a kind
of vestibule. M. Laffitte was expecting Oudard, who had been gone
since five o'clock, but had not yet returned. At the sound of an
opening door he raised his eyes. It was not Oudard, but M. d'Argout. On
his entrance his manner, whether real or affected, was characterised
by the assurance of a man who believes himself to be bringing news
conciliatory to all the interests concerned.
"Well! my dear colleague," he said, "I have come to tell you some
excellent news."
"Humph!" Laffitte responded, with that half--scornful manner peculiar
to him, together with some of those mental endowments which he appeared
to have borrowed from his friend Béranger. "Humph I what is it?"
"The Ordinances are withdrawn," said M. d'Argout.
"Ah!" remarked Laffitte with indifference.
"And we have fresh Ministers."
"Ah!" the banker again remarked, without even inquiring their names.
"Is that how you receive such news?" M. d'Argout said, with some show
of disappointment.
"Surely."
"But why are you so cool over it?"
"Because it is of no importance now."
"No importance! Now!" repeated M. d'Argout.
"Yes," said Laffitte; "you are twenty-four hours too late with it, my
good friend."
"But it seems to me that the interest remains the same."
"Quite possibly. Only the situation has changed in the last twenty-four
hours!"
The salon door again opened at that moment. It was not, however, a
negotiator this time, but a man of the people. He was in his working
blouse; his beard was long and his head bound up in a bloodstained
handkerchief; he held a rifle in his hand.
"Pardon, Monsieur Laffitte," he said, as he clashed his gun on the
parquetry floor, "there is a rumour that they are negotiating through
you with Charles X."
"Yes," said Laffitte, "and you do not want any negotiations, is that
it, my friend?"
"We want no more Bourbons and no more Jesuits!" was the cry being
shouted in the antechambers.
This cry was taken up even in the street outside.
"You see and hear for yourself?" said M. Laffitte.
"Then you will listen to nothing?"
"Is your business official?"
M. d'Argout hesitated.
"I must confess," he replied, "that it is not."
"Then you will plainly see that I cannot answer you, since any reply I
made would lead to nothing!"
"But, if I returned with an official authorisation," urged M. d'Argout,
anxious to sound the situation from every side.
"Ah!" said M. Laffitte, "we will cross that bridge when we come to it!"
M. d'Argout shook his head and withdrew.
"Well?" M. de Vitrolles asked him.
"All is lost, my dear Baron!" the future Director of the Bank replied,
with a sigh.
"But suppose a final effort were made to force M. de Mortemart upon
Paris?"
"Why, in desperate cases any means are worth trying."
"To Saint-Cloud, then!"
"To Saint-Cloud!"
"That devil of an Oudard is a long time bringing me the duke's answer,"
Laffitte murmured impatiently.
"Perhaps," replied Béranger, "the duke is somewhat long in giving it
him...."
[1] See _l'Histoire de dix ans_, by Louis Blanc.
CHAPTER III
Alexandre de la Borde--Odilon Barrot--Colonel
Dumoulin--Hippolyte Bonnelier--My study--A note in
Oudard's handwriting--The Duc de Chartres is arrested at
Montrouge--The danger he incurred and how he was saved--I
propose to go to Soissons to fetch gunpowder--I procure
my commission from General Gérard--La Fayette draws up a
proclamation for me--The painter bard--M. Thiers to the fore
once more
The foregoing incidents were all taking place at the time I was
finishing my repast at the inn of the _Prunes de Monsieur._ I crossed
through all the crowds encamped in the place de l'Hôtel de Ville,
resting so quietly and cheerfully, in ignorance that the political
Cyclops had set to work again and was busy forging a fresh chain out of
the old broken one--an eloquent metaphor M. Odilon Barrot might have
made use of in speaking at the Tribunal, had there been a Tribunal left.
Alexandre de la Borde was entering the great hall of the Hôtel de Ville
at the same time that I was. Some men of the type that are for ever
shouting out something, cried--
"_Vive le préfet de la Seine!_"
Odilon Barrot, whose name I have just jotted down in reference to
Parliamentary eloquence, was writing at a table, dressed in the uniform
of a National Guardsman. He raised his head in surprise that the former
préfet of the Seine, M. de Chabrol de Volvic, could excite so much
enthusiasm. He recognised Alexandre de la Borde and made a gesture of
astonishment.
"Well, yes, it is I," the author of _l'Itinéraire en Espagne_ said,
with that bright, almost childish naïveté which was one of the chief
characteristics of his personality; "they have just nominated me préfet
of the Seine."
"You?"
"Yes, me."
"Who has done that?"
"How should I know? ... Some monsieur with a plumed hat, a large sabre
and a long scarf."
This "_monsieur_" was Colonel Dumoulin, who reappeared at every
Revolution in exactly the same plumed hat, sabre and scarf, till one
began to think he was the cause of all the misfortune.
Odilon Barrot shrugged his shoulders.
"You," he said, "you will belong to the Commune of Paris with us...."
And in a whisper he added--
"And yet!"
Only one who, like myself, was leaning over the back of his arm-chair,
could have caught these last two words.
I could see from my position another secretary, who had just come
and taken his place opposite, as a rival power. It was M. Hippolyte
Bonnelier, La Fayette's secretary; he was, indeed, the counterpart to
Odilon Barrot, secretary of the Municipal Commission. I shall never
forget how peculiarly M. Hippolyte Bonnelier was accoutred. He wore his
powder-horn slung round him on a red ribbon. In his belt he had stuck a
tiny poniard of four inches in length. Did he load his poniard with the
powder-horn or did he fill his powder-flask with his poniard? It was a
problem I was never able to solve.
"I have felled eighteen trees along the boulevards!" he said to Étienne
Arago.
"With your poniard?" Étienne laughingly asked.
"No," Bonnelier replied, laughing in his turn; "I meant to say that I
marked them out with my poniard and that the people felled them."
And, meanwhile, he was secretary to La Fayette. It was from him that
I learned what had passed between MM. de Vitrolles, Sémonville, and
Argout and the Municipal Commission.
The situation was becoming more and more interesting. I felt certain
that Oudard had gone to Neuilly; and I believed the answer would
soon be given, so I made up my mind to spend the night at the Hôtel
de Ville. I put myself under Bonnelier's protection and he took me
to a kind of private office where was a mahogany desk and arm-chairs
upholstered in green velvet. Upon the mantelpiece were five-branched
candelabras but without candles in them. I should say that M. de
Chabrol was a great and practical economist seeing he had five millions
in his safe and no candles in his candlesticks.
I began my operations by putting the key of the cabinet in my pocket,
then I went down and bought five candles, went up again, took pencil
and paper from Bonnelier's desk and begged him, if any news came from
Neuilly, to communicate it to me, which he promised to do. I returned
to my room, put in my candles, of which I lighted two, and began to
make notes of all I had seen during the day. I had not written more
than four lines before I felt my eyes closing in spite of myself. As
there was no reason for struggling to resist sleep and I was just
dropping with fatigue, I arranged two arm-chairs like a camp bedstead
and slept, in spite of the horrible tumult going all round, under and
above me. I woke in broad daylight. Except for two or three alarms and
the firing of a few shots, the night had been perfectly quiet. I looked
into a glass and saw the need there was for me to return home. I had
not changed my linen for three days, or shaved for two; my face was
covered with freckles and half my drill-waistcoat buttons had been torn
off by the weight of the bullets that had drawn it to one side; lastly,
one of my gaiters and one of my shoes were covered with the blood of
the poor fellow I had helped to lift to the Institut fountain. I left
my cabinet and found Bonnelier at his post. He signed to me that he
wanted to show me something. I went to him and he slipped a paper into
my hands.
"Take a copy of that, if you care to," he said; "but whatever you do,
don't lose my copy!"
"What is it?"
"Neuilly, 3.15 a.m.... Oudard, messenger.... Rubrique Laffitte."
"Good!"
I took a pen and copied the following note, word for word. By itself
that note would be a curiosity, but, put into juxtaposition with the
letter that will be given later, it rises to the dignity of a historic
document, like those articles of furniture which are recognised as
genuine and pass from an old curiosity shop to a museum. Here is the
note:--
"The Duc d'Orléans is at Neuilly with all his family. The
royal troops are near him at Puteaux. It only needs an order
emanating from the Court to remove him from the nation which
may find in him a powerful security for its future safety.
It is proposed to approach him in the name of constituted
authorities, suitably accompanied, and to offer him the
crown. If he raises scruples of delicacy of feeling with
regard to his family connection, he will be informed that
his residence in Paris is essential to the tranquillity of
the capital of France and that he must be put in safety. The
absolute certainty of this measure can be relied upon, and
there is, moreover, no doubt that the Duc d'Orléans will not
lose any time in associating himself heart and soul with the
wishes of the nation."
The original note was in Oudard's handwriting.
Strange coincidence! whilst the father was founding a throne the son
was incurring the danger of death.
Now we will see what happened.
Bohain and Nestor Roqueplan expected Étienne Arago to breakfast at
Gobillard's, in the place de la Bourse. As Arago left the _National_ on
his way to the café he met Bohain's, servant looking for his master.
"Ah! monsieur," said the worthy fellow, when he caught sight of
Étienne, "do you know where my master is?"
"He should be at Gobillard's," replied Étienne. "What do you want him
for?"
"I am sent by his brother-in-law, M. Lhuillier, to tell him I that the
Duc de Chartres has been arrested at Montrouge."
"Who had him arrested?"
"M. Lhuillier--he is the mayor of the village. He wants to know what he
should do with the prince."
"Humph!" said a man sitting on the pavement, with a rifle between his
legs, munching a piece of bread; "what he should do with him? We'll
tell him what to do with him! ..." Then, rising--"Here, friends!" he
cried out loudly, "the Duc de Chartres has been arrested at Montrouge.
Those who would like to taste a bite of prince's flesh come with me!"
"What did you say, my fine fellow?" exclaimed Étienne, laying a hand on
the man's shoulder.
"I said that they killed my brother and that I will myself go and kill
the Duc de Chartres this very day!"
There was no time to be lost. Étienne flew into the café.
"Look here!" he said to Bohain, "your servant has made a fine mess of
it!"
"What has he done?"
"He went and spread the news that the Duc de Chartres was a prisoner in
the hands of your brother-in-law, and a score of rascals have started
off to kill the prince."
"The devil!" Nestor and Bohain exclaimed in a breath; "that must not be
allowed."
"What shall we do?"
"Take upon yourself to lead them, put yourself at their head; keep them
back as long as ever you can, and one of us will go and give General La
Fayette warning of the danger the prince is in.... A man shall be sent
off post-haste to M. Lhuillier, and the Duc de Chartres set at liberty
before you and your men reach Montrouge."
"Good!" said Étienne; "but do not lose any time!"
Then, throwing himself at the head of a group of thirty men--
"To Montrouge!" cried Étienne Arago; "to Montrouge, my friends!"
Each one took up the cry, "To Montrouge!" and they started for the
Maine barrière, whilst Nestor Roqueplan--as far I can recollect it was
Nestor--ran to the place de Grève.
The Vaudeville lay on the route to the Maine barrière; they went across
the Palais-Royal gardens, then crossed the square and threaded their
way along the rue de Chartres. A scene-shifter was standing at the
theatre door, Arago made a sign with his eyes for him to come up to
him; the man understood and did so. Arago pretended to be receiving
some confidence from the man.
"Good! my friends," he said; "here is a fresh business. You don't know
what I have just heard! He says there is a Royalist conspiracy to come
and burn down the Vaudeville, and, as you are aware, the insurrection
started from the Vaudeville: had we not better begin by searching the
theatre first?"
No objections were raised. Besides, many of those honest fellows
were not at all displeased at the thought of seeing the inside of a
theatre; only the man who had proposed the journey to Montrouge, who
was a cooper from the quartier du Roule, tried to raise objections;
but nobody listened to him. So they stopped at the Vaudeville, and
Arago, lantern in hand, conducted his men from the lowest pit to
the galleries; he did not spare them a single post, or trap-door,
or side-scene. A whole hour was wasted over this visit. They then
continued their course towards the Maine barrière.
Meanwhile, General La Fayette had been warned and had sent off to
Montrouge M. Comte, one of the most brilliant students of the École
polytechnique, who has since written a capital work on Positive
Philosophy. M. Comte was the bearer of a letter couched in the
following terms:--
"In a free country, every man should be allowed to circulate
wherever he likes; permit M. le Duc de Chartres to return to
Joigny, at the head of his Hussars, and await the orders of
the Government. LA FAYETTE
"HÔTEL DE VILLE, 30 _July_ 1830"
When I learnt the danger the Duc de Chartres was incurring, I wanted
at once to return home and have my horse saddled to gallop off to
Montrouge; but it was pointed out to me that, before I could reach the
rue de l'Université, M. Comte would be at Montrouge and that it would
be much better to await news at the Hôtel de Ville, so I waited. The
hours, I must, confess, passed very slowly, from eight in the morning
till two in the afternoon. At two, Étienne returned, covered with
sweat and dust. The Duc de Chartres was saved. Thanks to the delay at
the Vaudeville, and to a second incident which we will relate in due
course, the messenger arrived in time.
The Duc de Chartres had with him General Baudrand and M. de Boismilon.
M. Lhuillier made the aide-de-camp and the secretary get into the
prince's carriage, and asked them to drive off and wait for the Duc de
Chartres at la Crois-de-Berny, whilst he himself undertook to bring the
prince to the same place safe and sound. Whilst General Baudrand and M.
de Boismilon left in a barouche by the front entrance and took the main
high road, M. le Duc de Chartres and M. Lhuillier went out by a back
door, and left in a cab by a cross-country road, rejoining the road to
Joigny, a quarter of a league below the place where M. Baudrand and M.
de Boismilon were waiting for the prince.
One circumstance in particular had helped to expedite the flight and
Arago's good intentions on the prince's behalf. When they reached the
Maine barrière the men were stopped; no armed troops whatever were to
be allowed to leave Paris. Their first instinct was towards forcing the
obstacle in their way, but they consented to parley with the sentries
on duty, and finally ended by fraternising with them. Some of the
men even went inside the guard-house itself, while the rest sat down
in the ditches hollowed out between the trees to catch rain-water.
Arago ordered bread and some bottles of wine for them and I himself
undertook to go in search of information. An hour later, he reached
Montrouge. M. le Duc de Chartres had just left. He took a copy of
General La Fayette's letter to justify the prince's release and carried
it back to his men. They took the news in very ill humour, and Étienne
could only manage to calm them down by promising that he would take
them back to the Hôtel de Ville and give them powder to their hearts'
content. Étienne had thus come back with this twofold object in view,
of reporting the news of the flight of the Duc de Chartres to General
La Fayette, and of giving his men their promised powder. But he had
some difficulty in keeping his promise; there had been such a waste of
powder that no one knew where to obtain any.
"I give you my word of honour," La Fayette, who could not believe in
such a lack of ammunition, said to Étienne, "that if Charles X. were to
return to Paris, we should not have four thousand rounds to fire with!"
I heard this answer, and did not let it fall to the ground.
When Arago had gone away, I went up to La Fayette.
"General," I said to him, "did I not hear you tell Arago just now that
you were short of powder?"
"Quite true," the general said; "but perhaps I was wrong in mentioning
it."
"Will you let me go and fetch some?"
"You?"
"I, myself, certainly."
"Wherefrom?"
"Wherever there may chance to be any, either at Soissons or at la Fère."
"They will not give you any."
"Then I will take it."
"What! you? You will take it?"
"Yes."
"By force?"
"Why not? The Louvre has been taken by force, surely!"
"You are certainly mad, my friend," the general replied.
"Not so, I swear it; I am sane enough!"
"Come, come, go home; you are tired out, past talking almost. They tell
me you spent the night here."
"General, give me an order to get powder."
"Nothing of the kind."
"Do you really mean you do not wish me to go?"
"I do not wish to have you shot."
"Thank you; but pray be good enough to give me a free pass to General
Gérard's presence."
"Why, yes, I will do that willingly. Monsieur Bonnelier, draw up a
passport for M. Dumas."
"Bonnelier is busy, general; I will do it myself, and you can sign it
immediately.... You are quite right, I must go home, for I am quite
done up!"
I went to a table and drew up the following passport:--
"30 _July_ 1830, 1 o'clock
"Allow M. Alexandre Dumas access to General Gérard."
I presented the paper in one hand and a pen in the other to General La
Fayette, and he signed it.
I had got my order.
"Thanks, general," I said.
And, as the passport was in my writing, I added after the two words
"General Gérard" the phrase, "To whom we recommend the proposition he
has just communicated to us."
Furnished with this pass, I at once went to Laffitte's hotel and gained
access to the general. He had seen me at M. Collard's when I was a
child, and recognised me when I gave him my name.
"Ah! so it is you, Monsieur Dumas!" he said. "Well, what is this
proposition?"
"This is it, general.... M. de La Fayette said in my hearing a few
minutes ago, at the Hôtel de Ville, that he was short of powder, and
that, in the event of Charles X. returning to Paris, there would
probably not be four thousand rounds of shot left."
"It is a fact, and, as you will recognise, a sufficiently disquieting
one."
"Well, I offered General La Fayette to go and obtain some powder."
"Wherefrom?"
"Soissons."
"How are you going to get hold of it?"
"How? Why, there are not two ways of taking things, surely? I shall ask
politely for it, to be sure."
"From whom?"
"The commanding officer, of course."
"And suppose he refuses?"
"I shall take it without his leave."
"I have been waiting for that.... Once more tell me how you are going
to take it?"
"Oh! that is my affair!"
"Is that the proposition recommended to me by General La Fayette?"
"You see it for yourself, the sentence reads clearly enough: 'To
General Gérard, to whom we recommend the proposition he has just
communicated to us.'"
"Did he not think your suggestion a mad one?"
"I must say, to be quite truthful, that we had just a little discussion
about it."
"Did he not tell you that there are twenty chances to one that you will
be shot in such an undertaking?"
"I fancy he did express some such opinion."
"In spite of that, he still recommended your proposal to me."
I succeeded in convincing him.
"Why did he not himself issue the order you come to ask of me?"
"Because he maintained, general, that orders to be given to the
military authorities are your business, and not his."
General Gérard bit his lips.
"Hum!" he exclaimed.
"Well, general?"
"Well, I say it is impossible!"
"Why so?"
"I cannot compromise myself so far as to issue such an order."
I looked him straight in the face.
"Why not, general?" I said. "I am willing enough to compromise myself
to the extent of carrying it out!"
The general shuddered and stared at me in return.
"No, no!" he said, "I cannot.... Apply to the Provisional Government."
"Ah! yes, that Provisional Government of yours! it will be an easy
matter if I can find it, but I have been looking all over for it. I
have asked all sorts of people to point it out to me, and when I have
gone where I was directed, I have only found a large empty hall with a
table in the middle, on which stood empty bottles of wine and beer, and
in one corner a desk and a sort of minute book on it.... Believe in me,
general, since I believe in reality and not shadows, and sign the order
I want."
"Do you really want it?" he said.
"I do indeed, general."
"And you are ready to bear the responsibility yourself of whatever harm
may come of it?"
"Would you like me to give you a repudiation of all responsibility with
respect to my person before I go?"
"You can write the order yourself."
"On condition, general, that you will copy it completely in your own
handwriting after ... it will have more weight if it is autograph."
"Very well."
I took up a piece of paper and wrote this rough draft of an order:--
"The military authorities of the town of Soissons are asked
to hand over immediately to M. Alexandre Dumas all the
powder that can be found either in the powder magazine or in
the town.
"PARIS, 30 _July_ 1830"
I presented the paper to General Gérard, who took it, read it and
re-read it. Then, as though he had forgotten that I had asked him for
an autograph order, he took a pen and, saying, "Since you really wish
it...." he signed my order.
I let him do it, for an idea came into my head.
"Thanks, general."
"Are you really satisfied?"
"Very well satisfied."
"Then you are not hard to please."
And he returned to the drawing-room. I still held the pen, and, above
his name, I wrote "Minister for War."
The first interpolation had succeeded so well that I ventured on
a second one. Thanks to my second interpolation the order read as
follows:--
"The military authorities of the town of Soissons are asked
to hand over to M. Alexandre Dumas instantly all the powder
that can be found either in the powder magazine or in the
town. Minister for War,
GÉRARD
"PARIS, 30 _July_ 1830"
But my readers must not suppose this was all. I had an order for the
military authorities signed _Gérard_; but I also wanted a similar
invitation to the civil authorities signed _La Fayette._ I laid great
store by General Gérard's military reputation, but I counted still more
upon General La Fayette's popularity; besides, one of the signatures
would supplement the other.
When I returned to the Hôtel de Ville I sent to ask to see La Fayette,
and he came to me.
"Well," he said to me, "haven't you gone to bed yet?"
"No, general, I am just off."
"To what place?"
"Soissons."
"Without an order?"
"I have one from General Gérard."
"Did Gérard give you an order?"
"Enthusiastically, general."
"Oh! oh! I should much like to look at it."
"Here it is"; and he read it.
"'Minister for War'?" he said, after he had read it.
"He thought that would assist my purpose."
"Then he did well."
"Will not you also give me something?"
"What is it you want?"
"An invitation to the civil authorities to second the revolutionary
movement which I am going to try and proclaim to the town. You know
well enough that I could not hope to succeed unless through the
instrumentality of some popular surprise."
"Granted.... It shall not be said that, since you risk your life in the
undertaking, I, on my side, risk nothing."
And he took up a pen, and wrote the following proclamation entirely in
his own fine handwriting:--
_To the Citizens of the town of Soissons_
"CITIZENS,--You are acquainted with the events that have
been happening in Paris during the three ever-memorable
days that have just gone by. The Bourbons have been driven
out: the Louvre is taken, and the people are masters of
the capital. But the three days' victors may be deprived
of the victory they have so dearly bought, for want of
ammunition. They, therefore, apply to you in the person of
one of our combatants, M. Alexandre Dumas, who comes to make
a fraternal appeal to your patriotism and devotion. All the
powder that you can send to your brethren in Paris will be
considered as an offering to your country.
"For the Provisional Government, the Commander-General of
the National Guard,
LA FAYETTE
"HÔTEL DE VILLE DE PARIS, 30 _July_ 1830"
It will be seen that, on the whole, this proclamation did not contain
much besides an appeal to patriotism and devotion. Now this was not
quite what I wanted; but, there it was, and I had to make the best of
it. I embraced General La Fayette, and I descended the steps from the
Hôtel de Ville as fast as I could. It was now three in the afternoon;
the gates of Soissons, being a fortified town, were shut at eleven
at night. I must, therefore, reach Soissons before eleven, and I had
twenty-four leagues to go. I caught sight of a young painter called
Bard, a friend of mine, in the square. He was a handsome young fellow
of eighteen, with a face as calm and impassive as a fifteenth-century
marble statue. He looked just like Donatello's Saint George. I was
seized with a desire to have a travelling companion, if it should only
be for the purpose of getting me properly buried in case the prophecies
of the two generals, La Fayette and Gérard, should come true. I went up
to him.
"Ah! Bard, old chum," I said, "what are you doing?"
"I?" he said.... "I am looking on.... It's a queer game, is it not?"
"It is something more than that," I said, "it is magnificent! What have
you been doing in it all?"
"Nothing.... I have no arms, but an old halberd that lies in my studio."
"Would you like to make up for lost time, then, in one stroke?"
"There is nothing I should like better."
"Then come along with me."
"Where?"
"To get yourself shot."
"I should love it."
"Hurrah! Run off to my rooms and fetch my double-barrelled pistols;
have my horse saddled, and come and rejoin me at Le Bourget."
I have forgotten to mention that, out of the first proceeds of
_Christine_, I had bought a horse of that same Chopin who, on the
morning of the 29th, had been taken for the emperor upon the place de
l'Odéon.
"What is Le Bourget?" Bard asked.
"Le Bourget is the first relay posting-station on the road to Soissons."
"Why take your horse, then, if there is a relay post?"
"Ah! in case the post-master should have sent out all his horses; they
may have been seized. That is the reason I cannot take my carriage,
because of the barricades and because all the posting-masters have not
post-carriages in their sheds in spite of the law which legally compels
them to have them. Then you see, my dear fellow, if we find a carriage,
we will take it; if we only find one horse, we will ride side by side
at full speed; if we find neither one nor the other, we shall still
have my horse, and you must ride behind me, and we will represent the
finest half of the four sons of Aymon."
"I understand."
"Then fetch my horse and the pistols, and whichever reaches Le Bourget
first, waits for the other."
"I will fly the whole way!" cried Bard, as he dashed off towards the
quay Pelletier.
"And I also," I replied, as I ran off down the rue de la Vannerie,
which led straight into the rue Saint-Martin, my most direct way for
reaching La Villette.
One word about what was passing while Bart was running along the quay
Pelletier and I was scampering down the rue Saint-Martin.
Étienne Arago returned to the _National_ office when he had dispersed
his men.
"Do you know the news?" Stapfer asked him.
"What news?"
"Thiers is found once more."
"Pooh! Where is he, then?"
"He is up there, and has begun searching for some subject to write a
leader on."
"Well, then, I will take him one."
"You know nobody is allowed to enter his office when he is working?"
"Rubbish! Haven't we been into the king's study?"
"Well, then, go in. You can give him that reason as an excuse, and he
will indeed be hard to please if he is not satisfied with it."
Arago entered.
Thiers turned round to see who had the impertinence to defy his orders.
He recognised Arago, who had played a very important rôle in the
drama being enacted. The frowning face of the famous political writer
softened when he saw who it was.
"Oh! it is you!" he said.
"Yes.... I have hunted you out to give you a subject for an article."
"What is it?"
Arago related the whole adventure of Montrouge and how M. le Duc de
Chartres had managed to escape in time.
Thiers listened with the deepest attention.
"Dear, dear," he said when Arago had finished. "Who knows but that you
have probably saved the life of a son of France...."
Arago stood with his mouth gaping and his eyes inordinately wide open.
And that was the way the wind was blowing on 30 July 1830, at 3.15 in
the afternoon! The wind changed Thiers' plans, and, instead of writing
his article, he got up and ran off to Laffitte's.
We shall see, on my return from Soissons, what he did there.
CHAPTER IV
Gee up, Polignac!--André Marchais--Post-master at Bourget--I
display the Tricolour on my carriage--Bard joins me--M.
Cunin-Gridaine--Old Levasseur--Struggle with him--I blow
out his brains!--Two old acquaintances--The terror of
Jean-Louis--Our halt at Villers-Cotterets--Hutin--Supper
with Paillet
By the time I reached Villette I could not put one leg before the
other. But, by good luck, I caught sight of a trap.
"Driver," I said, "ten francs if you take me to Bourget!"
"Fifteen?"
"Ten!"
"Fifteen!"
"Nonsense!"
"Well, then, jump in, governor."
In I jumped, and we set off. The horse was a slow one, but the driver
was a good patriot. When he knew how great a hurry I was in, and the
object of my journey, he said--
"Oh! it's no wonder, then, that my horse will not trot any faster, for
I christened him Polignac; he is an idle good-for-nothing that one can
do nothing with.... But don't be anxious, we shall get there all right."
And he took hold of his whip by the lash end, struck the horse with
the handle instead of the thong, and shouted, "Gee up, get along,
Polignac!" By dint of shouting, swearing and lashing we reached Bourget
in an hour's time. The wretched horse was at the last gasp, and I
thought that, like his illustrious namesake, he had reached the end
of his tether. I paid the ten francs agreed upon, and I nobly added
two francs as a tip--then I went into the posting-house yard. The
posting-master was just harnessing a horse to a trap. I went up to
him, gave him my name, showed him the order from General Gérard and
General La Fayette's proclamation, and asked him to provide me with the
necessary means of fulfilling my mission.
"Monsieur Dumas," he said, "I was putting my horse in to go to Paris in
search of information; but there will now be no need for me to go since
you bring such excellent news. I will therefore put post-horses into
the trap and take you as far as Mesnil; if you do not find a conveyance
there, you can keep my trap, and on your return you will replace it in
the coach-house."
No one could have spoken fairer. In the midst of our conversation, I
heard myself called by name, and, as it was too soon for Bard to have
arrived, I turned round to see who it was. It was André Marchais, one
of our warmest and most disinterested patriots; he had posted from
Brussels, where the news of the insurrection had only arrived the day
before. He was miserable when he learned that it was all over. Selfish
fellow! He hoped to get killed or wounded for the good cause.
We embraced heartily. I afterwards learnt that, when he reached Paris,
he found a writ awaiting him, signed by the Duc de Raguse, in common
with the same sent to General La Fayette, Laffitte and Audry de
Puyraveau. While we were greeting one another, the horses were being
put to my carriage and to Marchais's, and then Marchais' started for
Paris.
"I am now at your service," said the posting-master, who seemed
surprised I was not in a great hurry.
"Pardon," I replied. "I am waiting for a companion who is coming from
Paris with my horse and pistols.... I am intending, if you will allow
me, to leave my horse here in exchange for your trap."
"Leave whatever you like," was his reply.
We gazed down the road as far as we could see, but nothing was yet in
sight.
"We shall have time," I said to the posting-master, "to rig up a
tricolour flag."
"What for?" he asked.
"To put on your trap.... It will indicate our opinions, and will
prevent our being arrested for fugitives."
"Oh! oh!" he said, laughing, "on the contrary, they are more likely to
stop you, because ... you look like something quite different."
"Never mind, I shall be delighted to sail under the three colours."
"Ah! as far as that goes, that's easy enough!"
He crossed the street, went into a draper's shop, bought half a yard
each of white, blue and red merino, got the people to sew the three
half yards together, and nailed them to a broom handle. The flag was
ready in ten minutes, and it cost twelve francs, broom stick included.
We fastened it with two cords to the hood of the trap. As we were
accomplishing this task we caught sight of Bard, who arrived on my
horse at full gallop. I signed to him to hurry yet more if it were
possible, but he could not go faster. At last he joined us.
"Ah!" he said, "I am glad to see that you have got a carriage, for I am
dreadfully saddle sore!"
Then, as he stepped to the ground, he said, "There are your horse and
pistols."
"You did not think to bring a shirt too?"
"Upon my word I didn't! I don't think you mentioned anything about a
shirt."
"No, it is my own fault.... Hand the horse to the stable lad, take the
pistols and be sharp and get in; it is five o'clock already!"
"A quarter to five," the post-master remarked, looking at his watch.
"Do you think we shall reach Soissons before eleven to-night?"
"It will be a difficult job--but there, so many miracles have happened
the last three days that it would not be impossible for you to perform
this one."
And he gave orders to the postillion to mount the horse.
"Are you on?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then off you go; gallop the whole way, you understand?"
"I understand, governor," said the postillion.
And he set off at a furious pace.
"You know the pistols aren't loaded," Bard said.
"All right! we will load them at Villers-Cotterets."
By a quarter to six we were at Mesnil: we had covered nearly four
leagues in the hour.
Luckily there were fresh horses at the post. Our postillion here got
another postboy to take up the running, and, in order that we might
make even better speed, they put in three horses this time instead
of two. I wanted to pay for the stage we had just done, but the
posting-master had given his orders and the postillion refused to take
the money. I gave him ten francs for himself; he commended us to the
fresh postboy and we set off at top speed. Fortunately, the trap was
well-seasoned, and in an hour we were at Dammartin. Our tricolour flag
produced the desired sensation. The people came out all along our route
and made the liveliest signs of enthusiasm; and, by the time we reached
our relay at Dammartin, half the town had collected round us.
"This is capital!" exclaimed Bard; "but to make things more lively
still, we ought to shout something."
"Right you are, my friend, shout away; and, while you shout, I will
take a little nap."
"What shall I shout?"
"Why, _Vive la République!_ to be sure!"
We came out of Dammartin amidst shouts of "_Vive la République!_"
Between Dammartin and Nanteuil we saw a post-carriage, which, when it
caught sight of our tricolour flag, stopped, and its occupants stepped
down.
"What news?" a man of about fifty asked us.
"The Louvre is taken and the Bourbons have fled; there is a Provisional
Government composed of La Fayette, Gérard, etc. _Vive la République!_"
The gentleman of fifty scratched his ear and got into his carriage
again. It was M. Cunin-Gridaine. We resumed our journey, and by twenty
to eight we were at Nanteuil. We had only three hours and twenty
minutes left and still had twelve leagues to go. It was not likely we
could manage it, but my principle always is not to despair so long as
there is any vestige of hope left; even then! ... At Nanteuil we again
changed horses, and the tricoloured flag had its usual effect. Nothing
was known of Paris doings, so we brought the first really definite
news. They gave us an old postillion, to whom I shouted--
"Four leagues an hour, and three francs as tip."
"All right, all right," said the old fellow. "I know my business. I've
driven _the general._"
The general was my father; for, you see, I was in my native country
here.
"All right; if you have driven my father, you know he liked fast
driving. I take after him."
"Right, I know my business."
"Off, then."
"We're off!"
"Oh!" said the postillion I was leaving behind, "I pity you, M. Dumas.
You have a bad customer to deal with."
"I will make him go, never fear."
"I hope so. _Bon voyage!_ Come, off you go, Levasseur; put a little
quicksilver in your boots!"
And the postillion departed.
"Levasseur," I shouted to him, "I told you three francs for yourself if
we reach Levignan by half-past eight."
"If we don't get there by half-past eight we shall by nine. I know my
business."
"You understand," I repeated, "I will be at Levignan by half-past
eight."
"Bah! only kings say _I will._"
"There is no longer a king.... Come, come. Quicker, quicker!"
"Let us climb the rise first, and then we will see about that."
So we climbed the rise, and then old Levasseur put his horses to the
trot.
"Oh! Levasseur, this won't do at all," I said.
"How, then, do you want me to go?"
"Faster."
"Faster? It is forbidden."
"Forbidden by whom?"
"By the rules, deuce take it! I know my business, you bet!" "Look here,
Levasseur ..."
"What is it?"
"Let me get down."
"Ooh!... ooh!"
The carriage stopped; I got out, and I cut a branch from an elm by the
roadside.
"Look here," he said, looking on with great uneasiness, "you are not
cutting off that switch to whip my horses with, I hope?"
"Make yourself easy on that score, Levasseur," I said, as I got back
into the carriage. "Go on!"
"It is all very well to say go on; but have you cut that stick to beat
my horses with is what I want to know?"
"All right, we shall see about that."
"Oh! we shall see about that, shall we? I'm not afraid of you because
you have a gun."
"Look here, Levasseur, you know your business as a postillion, don't
you?"
"Rather."
"Well, then, I too know mine as a traveller.... Your notion, it would
seem, is to go as slowly as possible, while mine is to go as fast as I
can. We will see which of us is the stronger."
"We will see whatever you like, I don't care."
I drew out my watch. "You have two minutes in which to make up your
mind."
"What to do?"
"To put your horses to the gallop."
"And if I won't?"
"If not, I shall do so myself."
"You mean it?"
"Certainly!"
"Well, I shall like to see the fun."
"You shall, Levasseur, take my word for it."
He began to strike up the lament of Saint Roch. While all this was
taking place we had been going at a slow trot.
"Look here, Levasseur," I said, at the end of the first couplet, "I
warn you that one minute has gone already."
Levasseur began intoning the second at the top of his voice; but just
as he was going to begin the third I gave his horses a sound whack
across their quarters with the stick. They made a leap forward and set
off at full trot.
"Now, now, what are you doing?" asked the postillion.
Instead of replying, I redoubled my blows and thrashed the horses into
a gallop.
"Oh! curse it, curse it, is that what you mean? Let me get down for a
second and you shall see, indeed! Ah! you will have to settle with me.
Wo! wo! Good heavens, will you stop it?"
"What! stop it, Levasseur?" I shouted, continuing to beat with all the
strength in my arms, "when I tell you that I know my business better
than you know yours!"
"Once more, will you have done?... No?... Wo! wo! wo!"
It was in vain he cried "Wo!" or reined in his horses; they reared,
but galloped all the same. Unluckily, my elm branch broke and I was
disarmed. But the horses were so well started that he did not manage to
pull them up for a hundred yards.
"Ah! Good heavens! Confound it all!" he shouted. "When I have stopped
my horses you shall answer for this, I can tell you!"
"Now, what do you intend to do, Levasseur?" I asked, laughing.
"To unharness them, and leave you and your trap in the middle of the
road.... We shall see if it is allowable to put the poor beasts into
such a state."
And by degrees he calmed his horses down.
"Hand me one of my pistols," I said to Bard.
"What for?"
"Pass it, quick."
"You aren't going to blow his brains out?"
"I am, indeed!"
"They are not loaded."
"I am going to load them."
Bard gazed at me in terror.
I put a percussion cap on each nipple and rammed a wad down the centre
of each barrel. I had just finished the operation when the carriage
pulled up, and the postillion got down, swearing, to unfasten the
traces, as he had threatened, lifting up his legs one after the other
heavily in their great boots. I waited for him, pistol in hand.
"Look here, Levasseur," I said, "if you touch those traces I shall
smash your head for you."
He raised his eyes and saw the two muzzles of the pistol.
"Stuff!" he said, "you daren't kill people that fashion!" And he put
his hands to the traces.
"Levasseur, take care what you are doing! Do you mean to take out the
horses?"
"The horses are mine, and, when they are over-driven, I unharness them."
"Have you a wife and children?"
Again he looked up; the question struck him as an unusual one.
"Yes, I have a wife and four children--a boy and three girls."
"Well, then, Levasseur, let me warn you that, if you do not let the
traces alone, the Republic will be obliged to grant a pension to your
family."
He began to laugh and to grip the traces with both hands. I pressed the
trigger, the cap exploded and the wad hit my man in the middle of his
face. He believed he was killed and fell backwards, his face between
his hands, half fainting. Before he had recovered from the shock and
astonishment I had drawn off his boots, as Tom Thumb drew off the
Ogre's, put them on my own legs, jumped astride the saddle-horse, and
we set off at full gallop. Bard nearly fell into the floor of the
carriage with laughing. When we had gone three or four hundred yards,
I turned round, though I still kept on whipping the horses, and I saw
old Levasseur had sat up and begun to collect his senses. A tiny hill
we were ascending soon hid him from my sight. I had still nearly a
league and a half to make, but I caught up the lost time and did it in
seventeen minutes. I reached the post at Levignan with a grand flourish
of whips, and, when I pulled the horses up, two persons appeared on the
threshold. One was the posting-master, M. Labbé, himself; the other my
old friend Cartier, the timber-merchant. Both recognised me at the same
time.
"Why; you, my boy!" said Labbé. "Things have gone badly with you then
if you have come down to being a postillion?"
Cartier gave me his hands.
"What the devil have you come in such an equipage as that for?"
I related the story of old Levasseur, then all that had happened in
Paris.
It was now half-past eight; I had only two hours and a half in which to
reach Soissons, and there were still nine long leagues to travel. The
probability of succeeding was getting less and less, but I would not
give in. I asked M. Labbé for horses; he brought me them immediately,
and in five minutes time they were harnessed.
"My goodness," said Cartier to Labbé, "I mean to go along with them. I
am curious to know how it will end." And he got in with us.
"Remember me to the postillion," I said to M. Labbé.
And he nodded his head.
"Jean-Louis," he said to the postillion.
"Yes, governor."
"You know old Levasseur?"
"By Jove, I should think I do!"
"You see that gentleman?" pointing to me.
"Yes, I see him."
"Well, he has just killed old Levasseur."
"How?" said the postillion, gaping at me.
"With a pistol shot."
"What for?"
"Because he wouldn't go full gallop.... So take heed, Jean-Louis."
"Is that true?" the man asked, turning pale.
"You can see for yourself, since monsieur has driven in himself and is
using the whip and wearing boots of the deceased."
Jean-Louis threw one terrified glance at the whip and the boots and
then he set off at a tearing gallop, without saying another word.
"Oh! my poor horses," Labbé shouted after us, "they are going to have a
bad time of it."
We reached Villers-Cotterets under the hour, and here quite an ovation
awaited me. I had hardly given my name to the first person I met whom
I knew, than the news of my arrival by post-conveyance in a trap
surmounted by a tricolour flag flew all over the town as rapidly as
though it had been sent on telegraph wires. As the news spread, the
houses turned out the living with as great unanimity as the tombs will
discharge the dead at the sound of the Last Trump. All these living
beings ran to the posting-house and reached it as soon as I did. Much
explanation had to be given to make them understand my costume, my
rifle, my sunburnt condition, the trap, the tricolour flag and why
Bard and Cartier were with me. Everybody in that beloved countryside
loved me well enough to have the right to put these questions to me. I
answered them all, and when the explanations were given, they cried in
unison--
"Don't go to Soissons! Soissons is a Royalist town!"
But it scarcely need be said that I had not come as far as
Villers-Cotterets without intending to proceed to Soissons.
"I not only intend to go to Soissons," I replied, "but I shall do all
in my power to reach it before eleven o'clock, even if I have to give
twenty francs in tips to the postillions."
"If you offer them forty, you will not reach there in time," said a
voice I knew; "but you will get there by midnight, and they will let
you enter."
The voice belonged to one of my friends who lived at Soissons, the one
who, fifteen years previously, when a child like myself, came, an hour
before me, to make a suggestion to General Lallemand when a prisoner,
similar to the one I put to him an hour later.
"Ah! is that you, Hutin?" I exclaimed. "What shall I do to get in?"
"You will get in because I shall go with you and insist on it.... I
belong to Soissons and know the gatekeeper."
"Bravo! What time shall we have?"
"The whole night; but it would be best to arrive before one o'clock."
"Good! then we shall have time for supper?"
"Where are you going to have it?"
Ten voices shouted--
"With me! With me! With us!" and they began to drag me from front, from
behind, by the lappets of my coat and the cord of my powder horn and
the strap of my gun and the ends of my cravat.
"Excuse me," said another voice, "but he has been previously engaged."
"Ah! Paillet!..."
It was my old head-clerk. I turned towards my many hosts.
"It is quite true. I promised Paillet the last time he visited Paris to
come and dine with him."
"So much the better," said Paillet, "since the dining-room is large
and those who wish to come and take supper with us will find room
enough.... Come, those who are his friends can follow me!"
A score of young fellows followed us--my old comrades, Saunier,
Fontaine, Arpin, Labarre, Rajade and many more. We went along the
rue de Soissons and stopped at Paillet's house. In a moment almost,
thanks to old Cartier, who lived nearly opposite, an excellent supper
was improvised. Cartier senior, Paillet, Hutin, and Bard sat down to
table. The others sat round, and I had to relate the history of that
marvellous epoch-making three days while I was eating, not a single
detail of it having penetrated so far as Villers-Cotterets. There were
many exclamations of admiration. I next passed to the story of my
own mission. And here enthusiasm cooled down. When I announced that
I counted on taking alone, by myself, all the powder in a military
town of eight thousand inhabitants and eight hundred soldiers, my poor
friends looked at one another and said, as General La Fayette had done--
"Why! you must be mad!"
But more serious still than this unanimous opinion of the inhabitants
of Villers-Cotterets was that Hutin, a native of Soissons, agreed with
their opinion.
"However," he added, "as I said I would attempt the thing with you, I
will do so; only it is a hundred to one that before this time to-morrow
we shall have been shot."
I turned towards Bard.
"What did I say to you when I proposed you should accompany me,
Seigneur Raphaël?" I said.
"You said to me, 'Will you come and get yourself shot with me?'"
"And your reply?"
"I replied I should be only too happy."
"And now?"
"I am still of the same opinion."
"Bless me! my dear fellow, you can see, you can hear. Reflect in time."
"I have reflected."
"And you mean to come?"
"Certainly."
I turned to Hutin again,
"So you are coming?"
"Of course I am."
"Then that is all right," and I raised my glass.
"My friends! to-morrow evening, meet again here! Cartier, a dinner for
twenty, on condition that it is eaten whether we are dead or alive.
Here are two hundred francs for the dinner!"
"You shall pay for it to-morrow."
"What if I am shot?"
"Then I will pay for it myself."
"Hurrah for old Cartier!"
And I swallowed off the contents of my glass. They all took up the
chorus, "Vive Cartier!" and as we had finished supper and it was eleven
o'clock and the horses were in the trap, we got up to go.
"Ah! confound it, one moment," I said, reflecting; "we may have to deal
with rougher adversaries to-morrow than old Levasseur, therefore let
us really load our pistols this time. What gentlemen among you have
bullets of the right calibre?"
My pistols took twenty-four size, and it would be a chance, indeed, to
find bullets of that calibre.
"Wait a bit," said Cartier, "I can manage that. Have you any bullets in
your pocket?"
"Yes, but only size twenty."
"Give me four of them, or rather eight; it is best to have a
re-load...."
I gave him eight bullets. Five minutes later, he brought me them back,
elongated into slug shot, so that they fitted into the pistols. They
were cleaned out, loaded and primed with the greatest care; just as
though preparations were being made for a duel. Then for the last
time we drank to the success of the enterprise; embraced each other
several times and got into the trap, Hutin, Bard and myself; the
postillion mounted his horses, and we set off at full gallop along
the road to Soissons in the midst of cries of farewell and cheers of
encouragement from my dear good friends. Two hours after we had left
Villers-Cotterets the gate of Soissons opened at the voice and name of
Hutin, and the gatekeeper let us in to the town, little knowing he was
giving entrance to the Revolution.
CHAPTER V
Arrival at Soissons--Strategic preparations--Reconnaissance
round the magazine--Hutin and Bard plant the
tricolour flag upon the cathedral--I climb the wall
of the powder magazine--Captain Mollard--Sergeant
Ragon--Lieutenant-Colonel d'Orcourt--Parleys with them--They
promise me neutrality
After twenty-two years have passed, we almost hesitate to write the
ensuing narrative, which now seems incredible even to ourselves; but
we would refer any who doubt the story to _le Moniteur_ of 9 August,
containing the official report which General La Fayette inserted, so
that those who were interested might either protest or deny as occasion
required. Nobody protested, nobody denied.
At midnight, we were knocking loudly at the door of Hutin's mother's
house, who welcomed us with cries of delight, no more I suspicious than
was the gatekeeper, concerning the contents of the trap _à la Congrève_
that she ordered to be put up in her stable yard.
The following day was market day, and the next business was to concoct
a huge tricoloured flag to take the place of the white flag which was
floating from the cathedral. Madame Hutin, not thoroughly understanding
what we were up to, nor the consequences it might lead to, put at our
disposition the red curtains from the dining-room and the blue ones
from the drawing-room. A sheet taken from the linen cupboard completed
the National Standard. The question of the staff did not trouble us;
we should use the one belonging to the white flag. Flag-staffs do not
declare their opinions. Everybody in the house--Madame Hutin, her cook,
Hutin, Bard and I--all set to the task of sewing, and by three o'clock
in the morning, in the early hours of dawn, the last stitch was put in.
This was how we proposed to divide the task: I was to begin by seizing
the powder magazine, while Bard and Hutin, under pretext of going to
the top of the tower to see the sun rise, were to gain access to the
cathedral, pull down the white flag and substitute the tricolour. If
the sacristan offered resistance, we intended to fling him from the
top of the belfry. Hutin had armed Bard with a carbine and provided
himself with a double-barrelled gun. As soon as the flag was raised,
the sacristan shut up in the tower and the key of it in Hutin's pocket,
the latter was to send Bard to me at the magazine, which was situated
among the ruins of the Church of Saint-Jean. Bard could be more useful
to me in the powder magazine, as it was kept by three old soldiers
whose long service had been recompensed by a position that was almost
a sinecure, and whose wounds, covered up in the case of two of them by
the ribbon of the Legion of Honour, received during the Empire, allowed
no question to arise as to their valour. They were Lieutenant-Colonel
d'Orcourt, Captain Mollard and Sergeant Ragon. It was, therefore,
highly probable I should need reinforcement.
Whilst Bard was on his way to join me, Hutin, bearing General La
Fayette's proclamation, was to go at once to Dr. Missa. Dr. Missa was
the head of the Liberal opposition party and had repeated over and over
again the statement that he was only waiting a suitable opportunity
to move forward. The present opportunity was an excellent one, and
we hoped he would not let it go by. Hutin believed he could count on
two of his friends equally, one named Moreau and the other Quinette.
Quinette, son of a member of the Convention, was the same who, later,
became a deputy under Louis-Philippe, and ambassador at Brussels under
the Republic. We shall see how each of them responded to the appeal
made in the name of the Revolution.
When I left the magazine I was to go to the commander of the town, M.
de Linières, and with General Gérard's order in my hands, obtain the
order from him to carry off the powder either willingly or by force. I
had been warned that M. de Linières was more than a Royalist! He was an
ultra-Royalist.
At the first news of the insurrection of Paris he had declared that no
matter how things turned in the capital, he would bury himself under
the ruins of Soissons and that the white flag should float from the
highest stone of the ruins. It was, accordingly, pretty certain from
what quarter we had to expect serious opposition. But I did not trouble
myself much about it; each event of the day had to take its chance.
At ten minutes past three in the morning we left Madame Hutin's house.
She was a splendidly courageous woman, and urged her son on rather
than held him back. We separated at the end of the street, Hutin and
Bard to go to the cathedral, and I to the powder magazine. As it would
have been a dangerous thing to enter the precincts of the ruins of
Saint-Jean by the main door, which was easy to defend, we had agreed
that it would be best for me to jump over the wall. Bard was, however,
to present himself at the main door, which I was to open to him when I
should hear three knocks with an equal space of time between each one.
I was at the foot of the wall in less than five minutes' time; it was
easy to climb as it was low, with plenty of cracks between its stones
to form natural steps.
However, I waited, as I did not wish to begin my excursion until I
saw the the tricolour flag floating over the cathedral in place of
the white one. Nevertheless, in order to get my bearings, I raised
myself up gently by my wrists to the level of the top of the wall in
such a manner as to be able to see over. Two men with spades were each
engaged in digging quietly, turning over the square plot of a small
garden. I recognised them by the pattern of their trousers and by their
moustaches to be two of the soldiers who lived in the rooms in front
of the powder magazine. The powder was in one or other of the first
two sheds, probably in both. The oak door, solid as a postern gate,
strengthened by cross-bars and studded with nails, stood between the
two sheds. It was shut. Having explored the battlefield at a glance,
I let myself drop down to the base of the wall and turned my eyes in
the direction of the cathedral. Very soon I saw the heads of three
men appear above the gallery and then the white flag become agitated
in an unusual manner, which could not be attributed to the wind, the
absence of which was obvious; finally, the white flag was lowered and
disappeared, and the tricolour standard was raised in its place. Hutin
and Bard had accomplished their part of the business; it was now time
for me to begin mine. It did not take me very long. I examined my gun
to see if the primings were in place, slung it over my shoulders, and,
by the help of my hands and feet, I quickly got to the top of the
wall. The two soldiers had changed their position and were leaning on
their spades, looking with marked surprise at the top of the tower
where the tricolour flag was triumphantly floating. I leapt down into
the magazine premises. At the noise I made as I touched the ground
they both turned round simultaneously. The second apparition evidently
seemed more extraordinary to them than the first. I had had time to
pass my rifle into my left hand and to cock the two triggers. I walked
towards them, they still looking at me, motionless with astonishment. I
stopped within ten yards of them.
"Gentlemen," I said, "I ask your pardon for the manner of my
introduction to your premises, but as you do not know me, you would
have refused me entry by the door, which would have occasioned all
kinds of delays, and I am in a hurry."
"But, monsieur," Captain Mollard asked, "who are you?"
"I am M. Alexandre Dumas, son of General Alexandre Dumas, whose name
you will have known if you served under the Republic; and I have come
in the name of General Gérard to ask the military authorities of the
town of Soissons for all the powder they can find in the town. Here is
my order: will one of you gentlemen come and look at it?"
With my gun in my left hand, I held out my right to them. The captain
came up, took the order and read it. Whilst he was doing so, Sergeant
Ragon took some steps towards the house.
"Pardon, monsieur," I said, "but since I do not know your purpose in
going into your house, I will beg you to remain where you are."
The sergeant stopped short. Captain Mollard gave me back my order.
"That is all right, monsieur. What do you want further?"
"I want a simple enough thing, monsieur.... Do you see that tricolour
flag?"
He nodded as an acknowledgment that he saw it perfectly well.
"Its substitution for the white flag," I continued, "will prove to you
that I have friends in the town.... The town is going to rise."
"And then, monsieur?"
"Then, monsieur, I was told that I should find brave patriots in
the three keepers of the magazine, who, instead of opposing General
Gérard's orders, would assist me in my enterprise. I therefore
introduce myself to you with confidence to ask your co-operation in
this business."
"You must know, monsieur," the captain said, "that our co-operation is
out of the question."
"Well, then, promise you will be neutral."
"What is all this about?" asked a third interlocutor, who appeared on
the doorstep with a silk kerchief tied round his head, attired only in
a shirt and cotton trousers.
"Colonel," the sergeant said, stepping nearer to his superior officer,
"it is a messenger from General Gérard. It seems the Revolution in
Paris is accomplished, and that General Gérard is now Minister for War."
I stopped the orator, who continued his advance towards the house.
"Monsieur," I said to him, "instead of going to the colonel, please ask
him to come to us. I shall be most happy to pay my addresses to him and
to show him General Gérard's order."
"Is it in the general's handwriting, monsieur?" the colonel asked.
"It is signed by himself, monsieur."
"I warn you that I have just been a member of the general's staff, and
therefore know his signature."
"I am very pleased to hear it, colonel, as it will, I hope, make my
negotiations with you all the easier."
The colonel came towards me, and I handed him the paper, taking
advantage of the moment's time thus given me, while the other soldiers
collected round him, to get between them and the door of the house.
I was, it is true, alone, but the three men I had to deal with were
unarmed.
"Well, colonel?" I asked in a minute or two.
"I can say nothing, monsieur, seeing the order is indeed signed by
General Gérard."
"On the contrary, colonel," I observed, laughing, "that seems to me a
reason why you should say something."
He exchanged a few words with the captain and sergeant.
"What was it you were asking from these gentlemen when I came out?"
"Your neutrality, colonel. I do not presume to use intimidation or to
urge you against your conscience. If your opinions incline you towards
the movement afoot, hold out your hand to me frankly and give me your
word not to oppose my mission; if, on the contrary, you wish to oppose
it, make up your minds at once and do what you like to get rid of me,
for I mean to do all I can to rid myself of you."
"Monsieur," said the colonel, when he had again held converse with his
two comrades, "we are old soldiers, and have faced fire too often to be
afraid; we accept the part you offer us, for, unfortunately, or rather,
perhaps, fortunately, what you say with regard to our patriotism is
true, and if you laid your hand on our hearts, you would feel the
effect the sight of the tricolour flag we have been longing for for
the past fifteen years has produced upon us.... What, monsieur, is the
agreement we are to enter into with you?"
"To go inside your house, and not to come out of it unless you learn
that I have been killed or until I shall myself come and release you
from your promise."
"I promise on my honour as a soldier for both myself and my comrades!"
I walked up to him and held out my hand. Three hands were held out
instead of one; three hands pressed mine with cordiality.
"Come, this is not all," said the colonel. "When one undertakes a task
like yours, it should succeed."
"Will you assist me, then, with your advice?"
He smiled.
"Where are you going now?"
"To the commander of the fort, M. de Linières."
"Do you know him?"
"Not in the least."
"Hum!"
"Well?"
"Be on your guard!"
"Still, if I have the order?"
"Well?"
"Then I may count on you?"
"Oh! naturally.... Neutrality has ceased, and we have become your
allies."
At that moment three knocks with an equal interval of time between each
were given on the door.
"What is that?" asked the colonel.
"One of my friends, colonel, who has come to render me assistance if I
should need it." I called out loud--
"Wait a minute, Bard; I will come and open it. I am among friends."
Then, turning towards the soldiers, I said to them--
"Now, gentlemen, will you go into your house?"
"Certainly," they said.
"I may rely on your word?"
"Our word once given is never taken back."
They went in, and I opened the door for Bard.
CHAPTER VI
How matters had proceeded with the sacristan--The four-inch
gun--Bard as gunner--The commander of the fort--Lieutenant
Tinga--M. de Lenferna--M. Bonvilliers--Madame de
Linières--The revolt of the negroes--The conditions upon
which the commander of the fort signed the order--M.
Moreau--M. Quinette--The Mayor of Soissons--Bard and the
green plums
Bard was perfectly cool; anyone seeing him with his rifle over his
shoulder would have taken him for a sportsman who had been getting his
hand in by firing at the target.
"Well," he asked me, "how have things gone here?"
"Splendidly, my dear boy! All is settled."
"Good! then you have the powder?"
"Oh! not yet. Hang it, what a hurry you're in! How about your flag?"
He pointed to the tower.
"You see for yourself," he said. "Doesn't it make a fine picture in the
landscape?"
"Yes. How did it all go off?"
"Oh! all went smoothly enough. The sacristan raised a few difficulties
just at first, but he ended by giving in to the reasons M. Hutin laid
before him."
"What were those?"
"I don't quite know; I was looking at the landscape.... Your valley of
Aisne is really magnificent, you know, especially over by Vauxbuin."
"So you heard nothing of what Hutin said to your sacristan?"
"I think he told him he would be killed if he did not keep quiet."
"Where is he now?"
"Who? M. Hutin?"
"Yes."
"He should be where he promised to be, at the doctor's."
"That's capital! You stop here."
"Good! What shall I do?"
"Wait a moment."
Bard's eyes followed me as I made an expressive movement in a certain
direction.
"Ah! that pretty little cannon over there!" he exclaimed.
And I walked towards a pretty little four-inch gun--I even think it
was, possibly, of smaller bore--under what was, I believe, a model of
it, placed beneath the shelter of a sort of shed.
"Isn't that a charming toy?"
"Charming!"
"Then come and help me, my dear fellow."
"How?"
"To put it in position. In case of siege, I must leave you some
artillery."
So we harnessed ourselves to the cannon, and I placed it in position
about thirty yards from the door. Then I slipped half the contents of
my powder-horn into the gun and wadded it with my pocket-handkerchief;
on the top of this first wadding I slipped in a score of bullets; then
I rammed Bard's handkerchief on the top of these and the cannon was
loaded. When loaded, I laid and primed it.
"There!" I said, panting; "now listen to what you must do."
"I await your instructions."
"How many cigarettes can you smoke on end?"
"Oh! as many as I have tobacco to turn them into or money to buy them!"
"Well, then, my friend, smoke without intermission, so that you always
have a lighted cigarette on hand: if they try to get inside without
your leave and force the gate open, ask them three times to withdraw
and if, upon the third request, they still persist in entering, place
yourself where the recoil of the cannon cannot break your legs and then
pass your lighted cigarette diagonally across the priming, and you will
see how the machine will work!"
"All right!" said Bard, not raising the slightest objection.
I believe, if, whilst he had been on the gallery of the tower, I had
said to him, "Bard, jump over!" he would have done it.
"And see here!" I said: "now you have both a rifle and a cannon, my
pistols are a superfluous luxury to you, so let me have them."
"Oh! true," he said, "here they are"; and he drew them out of his
pocket and returned them to me.
I again examined them and found them in good trim. I slipped them into
the two back pockets of my jacket and turned to go to the house of the
commander of the fort. A sentinel stood in the street outside, and I
asked him where M. de Linières' office was. He pointed it out; it was
on the first floor, or entresol. I climbed the staircase, and left my
gun outside the door of the office. The commander was alone with an
officer whom I did not know. He had just got up on hearing the news
that the tricolour flag was floating high over the cathedral. He was
probably still unaware of my arrival; for, just as I came in, he was
interrogating the officer upon the details of this extraordinary event.
"Pardon, Monsieur le Vicomte," I said to him, "but if all you require
is the full details, I can supply you with them, and I may add no one
could give you them so well."
"Well, but first of all who are you, monsieur?" the commander asked,
looking at me in astonishment.
I have already described my get-up: my cravat was in ribbons, my shirt
had been worn for four days, my jacket was bereft of half of its
buttons. There was therefore nothing very surprising in the question
put by the commander of the fort. I gave my surname, Christian name and
profession. I briefly painted the situation in Paris, together with the
object of my mission, and I tendered him General Gérard's order. The
commander of the fort, or king's-lieutenant, as he was indifferently
called in those days, read it attentively and, handing it back to me,
said--
"Monsieur, you must know that I do not recognise the sovereignty of
the Provisional Government in the slightest degree. Moreover, General
Gérard's signature does not present any sort of authenticity: it is not
legal, nor is the document even sealed."
"Monsieur," I replied, "of one thing I am certain: I can triumphantly
convince you of its legality and genuineness. I give you my word of
honour that the signature is really that of General Gérard."
A half-ironical smile crossed the commander's lips.
"I believe you, monsieur," he said; "but I can tell you news that will
render all further discussion useless: there are not at the present
moment more than two hundred cartridges of powder in the magazine."
But M. de Linières' smile had somewhat angered me.
"Monsieur," I replied, with equal politeness, "as you do not know
exactly the number of cartridges that there are in the magazine, I will
go and inquire of the three soldiers there who are my prisoners on
parole."
"What! your prisoners on parole?"
"Yes, Monsieur le Vicomte: Lieutenant-Colonel d'Orcourt, Captain
Mollard and Sergeant Ragon are my prisoners on parole.... So I am
going, as I had the honour of mentioning to you just now, to find out
for myself what quantity of powder there is in the magazine and then I
will return and inform you."
I bowed and went out, looking at the sentry's shako as I did so, which
bore the number 53. I was in luck; for, it will be observed, the
garrison of Soissons was composed of the depot of the 53rd, and the
53rd, it will be recollected, had turned to the people's side at the
very moment the Louvre was being taken. I met an officer in the street.
"Are you M. Dumas?" he said.
"Yes, monsieur."
"Is it you who have placed the tricolour flag on the cathedral?"
"Yes, monsieur."
"Then go forward and fear nothing from us: the soldiers were
distributing tricolour cartridges among themselves yesterday."
"So I can count upon them?"
"You can rely upon their keeping in their barracks."
"Your name?"
"Lieutenant Tuya."
"Thanks!" And I entered his name in my pocket-book.
"What is that for?" he asked me.
"Who knows?" I replied. "When I return to the Hôtel de Ville I may find
a second epaulette going begging.... You would not be angry with me for
sending it you?"
He began to laugh, shook his head and made off rapidly. At the same
moment, I saw the officer whom I had found closeted with the commander
of the fort going faster still. There was no time to be lost; no doubt
he was going with orders. I quickened my pace accordingly, and was at
the magazine in a trice. I knocked at the door and called out my name.
"Is that you?" Bard asked.
"Yes."
"Good! I will open to you."
"Don't trouble. Ask the officers how much powder, for artillery
purposes, there is in the magazine."
"All right!"
I waited, and through the keyhole I could see Bard hurrying to the
house. He disappeared, then reappeared after a few minutes.
"Two hundred pounds!" he shouted to me.
"Prodigious! It is always the way.... Now throw me over the key of the
door, or slip it under, so that I can come in without disturbing you."
"Here you are."
"Right! Whatever you do, don't quit your post."
"Make your mind easy!"
And upon this assurance I retraced my steps back to the house of the
king's-lieutenant. I found the same sentinel at the street door, but
there was now a second one at the door of the office. I expected to see
him bar my passage, but I was mistaken. As upon the first occasion, I
deposited my gun outside the door and then I went in. The company had
been increased by two other persons, and, besides the commander of the
fort and the unknown officer, there were now in that small office, as I
re-entered it, M. le Marquis de Lenferna, Lieutenant of the Police, and
M. Bonvilliers, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Engineers. These gentlemen
were all arrayed in their respective uniforms, and, consequently,
had sabres and swords by their sides. I entered and closed the door
behind me. I had hardly come face to face with these four officers
before I regretted I had left my rifle outside, for I realised that
grave matters would be discussed between us. I felt the lapels of my
waistcoat to see that my pistols were still in my pockets. They were
there safe and sound.
"Monsieur," the commander said to me in a jeering tone, "I have sent
for M. le Marquis de Lenferna and M. Bonvilliers, in your absence, who
are my colleagues in the military command in this town, in order that
you may lay before them the object of your mission here, as you did to
me."
I saw I must assume the same tone of conversation as that used by M. de
Linières, so I replied--
"Well, monsieur, the object of my mission is simple enough: it is
merely a question of my taking the powder that I have found in the
magazine and transporting it to Paris where they are short.... And, in
respect of that same powder, allow me to inform you, Commander, that
you were wrongly instructed: there are two hundred pounds of powder in
the magazine--and not two hundred cartridges."
"Whether two hundred pounds or two hundred cartridges is not the
question, monsieur: the question is that you have come to seize powder
from a military town containing a garrison of eight hundred men."
"Monsieur does, indeed," I replied, "put the question on its true
footing: I have come to take powder from a garrison town containing
eight hundred men, and here is my order for so doing."
I presented General Gérard's order to the king's-lieutenant, who, no
doubt because he knew it already, took hold of it with the tips of his
fingers and handed it to his neighbour, who handed it back to M. de
Linières after he had read it, with a slight inclination of the head.
"You are probably backed by an armed force to carry out the order, in
case we refuse to comply with it?"
"No, monsieur; but I have a most determined intention of taking that
powder, since I swore to General La Fayette I would either take it
or be killed. That is why I asked your leave for the opening of the
magazine doors, and I now renew my request."
"And you think that alone, Monsieur Dumas ... I think you told me your
name was Dumas?"--
"Yes, monsieur, that is my name."
"--You can force me to sign such an authorisation? You have noticed
probably that there are four of us?"
I had noticed still more--the commander's jeering tones and that,
from the wording of his sentences, the situation was growing warm; I
therefore edged myself gradually back until I was master of the door
and, while doing so, I placed my hands inside my coat pockets and
silently prepared the double locks of my pistols. I then suddenly drew
them from my pockets and pointed the muzzles towards the group in front
of me.
"True, there are four of you, messieurs,... but there are five of us!"
And I took a step forward and said, "Messieurs, I give you my word of
honour that if the order is not signed within the next five seconds I
will blow out the brains of all four of you, and I will begin with you,
Monsieur le Lieutenant de Roi--honour to whom honour is due!"
I had turned deadly pale, but in spite of my pallor my face expressed
immovable determination. The double-barrelled pistol which I held in my
right hand was only a foot and a half off M. de Linières' face.
"Beware, monsieur!" I said to him: "I am going to count the seconds";
and after a pause I began, "One, two, three!..."
At this moment a side door opened and a woman burst into the room in a
paroxysm of terror.
"Oh! my love, yield! yield!" she cried; "it is a second revolt of the
negroes!..
And, saying this, she gazed at me with terrified eyes.
"Monsieur," began the commander of the fort, "out of regard for my
wife...."
"Monsieur," I replied, "I have the profoundest respect for Madame, but
I too have a mother and a sister and hope, therefore, you will have the
goodness to send Madame away, so that we can thrash this matter out
between men alone."
"My love!" Madame de Linières continued to implore, "yield! yield!
I implore you! Remember my father and mother, both massacred at
Saint-Domingo!"
I had not until then understood what she meant by her words, "It is a
second revolt of negroes!"
She had taken me for a negro, from my fuzzy hair and complexion, burnt
deep brown by three days' exposure to the sun and by my faintly Creole
accent--if, indeed, I had any accent at all, from the hoarseness that
had seized me. She was beside herself with terror, and her fright was
easily understood; for I learnt, later, that she was a daughter of M.
and Madame de Saint-Janvier, who had been mercilessly killed under her
very eyes during a revolt. The situation was now too strained to be
prolonged much further.
"But, monsieur," the commander exclaimed in despair, "how can I yield
before one single man?"
"Would you like me, monsieur, to sign a paper attesting that you gave
me the order with a pistol at your head?"
"Yes, yes! monsieur," shrieked Madame de Linières.
Then turning to her husband, whose knees she had been clasping, she
reiterated, "My love! my love! give him the order! Give it him, I
entreat you!"
"Or would you prefer," I continued, "that I went and hunted up two or
three friends so that our numbers may be equal on both sides?"
"Indeed yes, monsieur, I should much prefer that course."
"Be on your guard, Monsieur le Vicomte! I go, relying on your word
of honour; I go, because I have you at my mercy and could blow out
the brains of every one of you.... I can promise you it would soon be
done.... Shall I find you on my return where you are and as you are?"
"Yes, yes! monsieur," exclaimed Madame de Linières.
I bowed courteously but without ceding one jot.
"It is your husband's word of honour I require, madame."
"Well, then, monsieur," the king's-lieutenant said, "I will give you my
word."
"I presume that it includes these gentlemen equally?"
The officers bowed in the affirmative. I uncocked my pistols and
replaced them in my pockets. Then, addressing myself to Madame de
Linières--
"Reassure yourself, madame," I said; "it is over. In five minutes,
gentlemen, I shall be back here."
I went out, picking up my gun, which I found in its corner outside
the door. I had gone beyond my resources, for I did not know where to
look for Hutin; and Bard was guarding an important point. But chance
served me; for, as I stepped into the street, I saw Hutin and one of
his friends, who, faithful to their rendezvous, were waiting ten yards
away from the house: the friend was a young man called Moreau, a warm
patriot of Soissons. They both had double-barrelled guns. I beckoned
to them to come into the courtyard. They came in, not knowing quite
what was expected of them. I went upstairs; parole had been strictly
maintained and none of the gentlemen had left his place. I went to the
window and opened it.
"Messieurs," I said to Hutin and Moreau, "have the goodness to inform
Monsieur the Commander that you are ready to fire upon him and upon the
other persons I shall point out to you, if he does not instantly sign
an authorisation for taking the powder."
For answer, Hutin and Moreau cocked their guns. Madame de Linières
followed all my movements and those of her husband with haggard eyes.
"That will do, monsieur," the king's-lieutenant said; "I am ready to
sign"; and, taking a piece of paper from his desk, he wrote--
"I authorise M. Alexandre Dumas to take away all the
powder belonging to the artillery which is in the magazine
Saint-Jean.--King's-lieutenant and Commander of the Fort,
VICOMTE DE LINIÈRES"
"SOISSONS, 31 _July_ 1830"
I took the paper which the count handed me, bowed to Madame de
Linières, made my apologies to her for the unavoidable fright I had
caused her and went out.[1]
We met M. Quinette, the second friend whom Hutin had mentioned to me,
in the street. He had come to join us. It was rather late, as will be
seen, especially since he was soon to leave us. His advice was that we
ought to do things legally and that, to this end, I must be assisted by
the mayor. I had no objection to this proposition, as I had possession
of my order, so I went to find the mayor. I have forgotten the name
of that worthy magistrate: I only remember that he made no difficulty
about accompanying me. Accordingly, five minutes later, accompanied by
the mayor, Hutin, Moreau and Quinette, I cautiously opened the gate of
the Saint-Jean cloisters, first having notified to Bard that it was I
who was opening it.
"Come in, come in!" he replied.
I entered and saw the cannon in position, but, to my great
astonishment, Bard had disappeared. He was twenty yards from his
cannon, perched up in a plum tree eating green plums!
[1] I believe I ought to take the precaution, at the conclusion of this
story that I took at the beginning, namely, to refer my reader to the
_Moniteur_ of 9 August 1830, in case they think I have been romancing.
See the notes at the end of this volume.
CHAPTER VII
The Mayor of Soissons--The excise-office powder--M.
Jousselin--The hatchet belonging to the warehouse-keeper--M.
Quinette--I break open the door of the powder
magazine--Triumphant exit from Soissons--M. Mennesson
attempts to have me arrested--The Guards of the Duc
d'Orléans--M. Boyer--Return to Paris--"Those devils of
Republicans!"
Now, thanks to M. Quinette's excellent advice, no one could have been
acting more legally than we were, since we were proceeding (like
Bilboquet) _with the mayors authorisation._ So Lieutenant-Colonel
d'Orcourt hastened to open the artillery powder magazine to us. It was
the shed on the right of the door as we entered. We hardly found two
hundred pounds of powder in it, as a matter of fact. I was preparing
to carry it off when the mayor laid claim to it for the defence of the
town. The claim was fair enough, only, as I had decided to carry powder
to Paris, no matter what the quantity might be, it seemed likely I
should have to go through the same scenes with the mayor as I had with
the commander of the fort, when Lieutenant-Colonel d'Orcourt approached
me and said in a whisper--
"There is certainly only about two hundred pounds of powder in the
artillery magazine, but in the shed opposite there are three thousand
pounds belonging to the town."
I opened my eyes wide.
"Say that again," I said.
"Three thousand pounds of powder there"; and he pointed to the shed.
"Then let us open it and take the powder."
"Yes, but I haven't the key."
"Where is it?"
"M. Jousselin, the storehouse-keeper has it."
"Where does he live?"
"One of these gentlemen will show you."
"Very good!"
I turned towards the mayor.
"Monsieur, I can at present say neither yes nor no to your request: if
I find more powder, I will leave you the two hundred pounds; if I do
not find any, I shall take it from you. Now do not let us lose any more
time, but each take our share. My dear Monsieur Moreau, you go and find
a waggon and horses among the carters in the town; they shall be paid
what is right, on condition they are here within an hour. As soon as
the powder is in the cart we will start off.... Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"Off with you, then."
And M. Moreau set off at the swiftest rate of speed possible.
"Bard, my friend, you can see that the situation has grown more
complicated, so take up your position close to the cannon, re-light
your cigarette and keep away from the green plums."
"Make your mind easy on that score! I hardly ate three and they set my
teeth horribly on edge! ... I would not bite a fourth, no, not even for
M. Jousselin and all his powder!"
"You, Hutin, go to M. Missa, to find out his intentions, and if he has
not done anything get from him General La Fayette's proclamation; it
should be useful to us in dealing with the civil authorities, who may
possibly decline to believe in the validity of General Gérard's orders."
"I'll run off at once!"
"You, Monsieur Quinette, have the goodness to take me to M. Jousselin."
"It is a long way off."
"Bah! what matter? If we work in harmony, things will come out all
right! In half or three-quarters of an hour at longest we shall all be
back here again!"
Bard resumed his post, Hutin left to fulfil his commission and M.
Quinette and I to fulfil ours. We reached M. Jousselin's door.
"Here we are," M. Quinette said, "but you will understand my feelings:
I belong to the town and have to stop in it after you have gone, so I
would rather you went alone to see M. Jousselin."
"If that is all, I don't mind!"
With that, I entered M. Jousselin's house. I must confess that, at
the moment, neither my looks nor my dress were calculated to inspire
confidence in the minds of others. I had lost my straw hat somewhere or
other, my face was sunburnt and streaming with perspiration; my voice,
at one moment, would sound loud like a trumpet, at the next, it was
shrill almost to imperceptibility; my jacket, bulging with the pistols,
was gradually losing what few buttons had adorned it and, finally, my
gaiters and shoes were still soiled with blood which the dust of the
road had not effaced. It was not, therefore, surprising that, when M.
Jousselin saw me thus equipped and with my double-barrelled gun on my
shoulder, he recoiled in his armchair as far as he could get.
"What is your business with me?" he asked.
I explained the object of my visit as succinctly as I could, for I
was pressed for time; moreover, had I wanted to use lengthy phrases I
could not have done so, as I could scarcely speak for hoarseness. M.
Jousselin raised several objections, which I cleared away as fast as he
put them; but I saw we might go on endlessly.
"Monsieur," I said, "let us stop. Will you or will you not give me the
powder in your magazine for a thousand francs, which I have here with
me?"
"Monsieur, it is impossible; there is twelve thousand francs' worth of
powder."
"Then will you take my thousand francs on account and accept a draft
for the remainder on the Provisional Government?"
"Monsieur, we are forbidden to sell on credit."
"Then will you give me the excise powder for nothing? It is Government
powder, which is as much as to say it belongs to me, since I hold a
Government order to take it and you hold none for keeping it."
"Monsieur, I would have you take notice..
"Yes or no?"
"Monsieur, you are at liberty to take it, but I would have you know
that you must be answerable for it to the Government."
"Oh, monsieur, why didn't you tell me that at first and so have ended
our discussion long ago!"
I went up to the fireplace and took hold of an axe that lay there for
chopping firewood, which I had had my eye on.
"But, monsieur," the astounded excise-keeper exclaimed, "what are you
going to do now?"
"I am borrowing this axe from you to break open the door of the powder
magazine.... You will find it all right at Saint-Jean, Monsieur
Jousselin."
And I left him.
"But, monsieur," he shouted after me, "you are committing theft!"
"Yes, both theft and housebreaking, Monsieur Jousselin!"
"I warn you I shall write about this to the Minister of Finance!"
"Write to the devil, if you like, Monsieur Jousselin!"
Whilst we were talking we had reached the street door. M. Jousselin
went on shouting and people began to collect in a crowd. I began to go
back the way I came.
"Oh! do give us a bit of peace, monsieur!" I said, seizing hold of the
axe by its handle.
"Murder! assassin!" he shouted at the top of his voice, and, shutting
the door in my face, he bolted it inside.
I had not time to amuse myself by breaking open his door.
"Quick, quick!" I said to M. Quinette; "the enemy is in retreat; let us
go on!"
I ran off axe in hand to the church of Saint-Jean. I had not gone
a hundred yards before I again heard M. Jousselin's voice, whose
maledictions reached me across that distance. He was at his window,
endeavouring to rouse the population against me. M. Quinette had
prudently disappeared.
I did not see him again until 1851, in Brussels. If, at Soissons, I
found he left too soon, he made up for it afterwards at Brussels, where
it seems to me he stayed too long; for, after the 2nd of December,
he waited for them to send him his dismissal as ambassador to the
Republic....
I did not worry about the excise-storekeeper or the hostile attitude of
the populace, but continued on my way to the magazine. Bard was at his
post this time.
"Well," Lieutenant-Colonel d'Orcourt asked me, "have you leave from M.
Jousselin?"
"No," I replied, "but I have the key of the powder shed!"
I produced the axe, and at this juncture Hutin arrived.
"Well," I said, "what has your Dr. Missa done?"
"Just think of it!" Hutin replied; "that great patriot has not dared to
put his nose outside his door! It was all I could do to get him to give
me back General La Fayette's proclamation!"
"I hope you have brought it!"
"Rather! Look here! here it is!"
"Give it me.... Good! Now to business!"
"And what have you done?"
"I have acquired this hatchet from M. Jousselin's fireplace.... We are
going to break open the door of the powder magazine, load it on to a
waggon Moreau has gone to fetch and then we will depart."
"Can you rely on Moreau?"
"As I would on myself!... By the way, what has become of Quinette?"
"He has disappeared--vanished--flown! But we will not bother ourselves
about him. Set to work!"
It was not such an easy task to accomplish. The lock that we had to
burst was fixed into the wall itself and the wall was built of flint
rubble, so every badly aimed blow which fell on the wall instead of
the lock or woodwork produced millions of sparks. Lieutenant-Colonel
d'Orcourt was a stout-hearted man, but, at the third blow which sent
out a shower of sparks, he shook his head and turned to his companions.
"Don't let us stop here any longer," he said; "it is no use ... these
gentlemen must be mad to undertake such a task"; and he departed as far
as the walls of the enclosure would permit, the others following him.
After five minutes' work I had to pass on the axe to Hutin, who took
his turn and set to work on the door. And, as things were not going
as fast as I wished, I raised the largest piece of stone I could
find, and, striking an attitude like Ajax, I shouted to Hutin to look
out; then I hurled the stone and, at this final effort, being already
shaken, it flew into splinters. At last we were in touch with the three
thousand pounds of powder! I was so eager lest it should still slip
away from our grasp, that I sat down on a barrel, after the fashion
of Jean Bart, and begged Hutin to go and hurry up Moreau and his
waggoners. Hutin went to do so. He was of an active disposition, all
nerves; an indefatigable sportsman, a fine shot and a man of few words;
but, to appreciate him properly, he should be seen working, no matter
what the work might be. He returned with the waggon a quarter of an
hour later, but without Moreau.
What had become of him?
He had collected a score of young townsfolk and a whole corps
of firemen, and they were all waiting to escort me as far as
Villers-Cotterets. Moreover, Moreau sent me his horse to ride during
my exit. So we loaded the waggon with the powder and I paid the price
arranged (four hundred francs, I think it was). We were then free to
take our carriage and post-horses; the waggoner was to follow the
coach, and was to manage as best he could in bringing it back again: he
was to get four hundred francs for his pains.
When we had got the powder away, we halted at Madame Hutin's house;
for it was four o'clock in the afternoon and none of us had broken
his fast, with the exception of Bard, who had eaten three plums. He
was dying with eagerness to carry away the four-inch gun and I was
equally anxious to make him a present of it; but the worthy keepers
of the magazine implored me so urgently to leave it them, that I had
not the heart to rob them of it. A good dinner awaited us at Hutin's;
but, hungry though we were, we ate it hurriedly while the post-horses
were being harnessed to the trap. Finally, by five o'clock, we started;
Hutin, Moreau and Bard behind the waggon in the trap and I on Moreau's
horse, walking by the side of the wheels, one hand on my holster, ready
to blow up the waggon, myself and half the town, if anybody attempted
to stop our going away. But no one made any objections: we even heard
some patriotic shouts behind us as we travelled on. We could not help
being grateful to the people for expressing themselves thus, as in 1830
no one knew exactly the right cry to utter. The most dangerous spot we
had to pass was the gate of the town; for as soon as we had reached the
gateway the portcullis might be dropped in front of us, and they would
attack us from the two guard-houses. But we passed these Thermopylae
without harm and found ourselves on the outside of the walls and in the
open country. Our men awaited us fifty yards beyond the gate: then, and
not until then, I confess, I dared to breathe freely.
"By Jove! my friend," I said to Hutin, "do go back into the town and
send us out twenty bottles of wine to drink the health of General La
Fayette.... We have well earned them!"
A quarter of an hour later, we were raising our glasses and drinking
to the general's health--a toast which the inhabitants of the town
received with acclamation, many having climbed up on the walls to
witness our departure. When we had emptied the twenty bottles, we
resumed our journey. At Verte-Feuille, half-way between Soissons and
Villers-Cotterets, I left Moreau's horse with the posting-master: I
could not have sat in the saddle ten minutes longer, for I was dropping
with fatigue. Whilst they were putting four post-horses to the waggon
(for I began to perceive that we should never get to our destination
with the Soissons horses) I lay down on the edge of a ditch and fell
into such a deep sleep that they had the greatest difficulty in the
world to wake me at the time of starting. Moreau then rode his horse,
for he wished to accompany us as far as Villers-Cotterets. I took his
seat in the trap and was hardly in it before I fell asleep again. I
had probably been sleeping for an hour when I felt myself being shaken
vigorously. I opened my eyes and saw it was Hutin.
"Oh! do wake up!" he said.
"What for?" I asked, yawning. I was sound asleep.
"Why, because it appears that your former lawyer, M. Mennesson, has
roused the town into a state of revolution, telling them you are
carrying out the orders of the Duc d'Orléans, and they do not mean to
let us go through."
"I carry out orders for the Duc d'Orléans? My goodness! the man must be
either mad or drunk!"
"Mad he may be, but, meanwhile, he means to have the matter out with
you."
"Have it out! and by means of whom?"
"By means of the foresters, in the first place."
"The foresters? Let me think. How can we have it out with the foresters
who belong to the Duc d'Orléans, if I am doing the business of the
duke?"
"Oh! I don't understand it at all--I only warn you. Now you know, let
us proceed."
I managed to rouse myself from sleep. We were at the foot of the
mountain of Dampleux and one of my Villers-Cotterets friends had run
out to warn us of the plot afoot against us. I called Moreau, who alone
comprised all the cavalry we could muster.
"Moreau," I said to him, "do me the favour of finishing off your horse
by putting him to a gallop and going to inquire either at Cartier's or
Paillet's house what amount of truth there is in the news they have
just brought us. If you meet M. Mennesson, threaten him that I have two
bullets in my rifle and that if he does not want to become acquainted
with them, he must keep himself out of range."
Moreau set off at a gallop: I placed myself and Hutin with six or eight
men who seemed to me equal to any emergency, in the van, leaving Bard
and twenty-five to thirty others as escort to the waggon; and then we
continued on our journey. In ten minutes' time we saw Moreau on his way
back. There was really an assembly of people before M. Mennesson's door
and he was holding forth to them; but, when Moreau went up to him and
whispered in his ear, he disappeared. There still remained the Guards,
who, it was said, were commanded by an old officer called M. Boyer.
This resistance of the Guards under M. Boyer was the more surprising to
me, since the Guards, as I have mentioned, were attached to the House
of Orléans, in league with which I was accused of raising a disturbance
in the province; also M. Boyer, who had formerly been an officer but
was deprived of his post by the Restoration, owed everything to the Duc
d'Orléans. Well! we reached Paillet's door, where we were expected, as
on our first entrance to the town; supper was ready and we consumed it
rapidly. All our men were at supper in Cartier's back courtyard. We
expected to be attacked at any moment, and we all ate with our guns
held between our legs. Supper, however, passed off without hindrance.
While we were at table, the horses of both the trap and the waggon
were changed and, towards ten at night, we resumed our journey;
this time, we were escorted by the whole of the National Guard of
Villers-Cotterets.
We parted with our escort from Soissons with many embracings and
hand-shakes; they had covered six leagues in less than four hours. When
we reached the summit of the Vauciennes hill, and while my whole being
was basking in sweet sleep--as sound as that from which Saverny sadly
reproached his executioner for rousing him--I was a second time shaken
by Hutin.
"Wake up! Wake up!" he said.
"What is it?"
"M. Boyer is asking for you; he wants to fight you."
"All right! Where is he?"
"Here I am!"said a voice.
I rubbed my eyes and saw a man of between thirty-five and forty years
of age, upon a horse lathered with sweat and foam. I got down from the
trap.
"Pardon, monsieur," I asked, "but I understand you wished a word with
me."
"Monsieur," the cavalier began in great excitement, "you have insulted
me!"
"I?"
"Yes, you, monsieur! And you will, I hope, give me satisfaction!"
"What for?"
"For saying I was either mad or drunk!"
"Stop a minute, please; I said so of someone, it is true, but of whom,
then, did I say it?"
"What the deuce!" exclaimed Hutin. "You said it of M. Mennesson!"
"You see, monsieur, I did not whisper it to M. Hutin.... Had you any
other reason for picking a quarrel with me?"
"None whatever, monsieur."
"In that case, it was hardly worth while waking me."
"Monsieur, I thought--"
"Do you still think so?"
"No, as I am told it was not true."
"Well, then?"
"I wish you a good journey, monsieur."
"Thanks!"
M. Boyer turned his horse about and galloped back to Villers-Cotterets.
We have often met since and laughed over this misunderstanding.
But I had other things to do than to laugh at that moment. I left Bard
to guard the powder and got into the carriage again; I deputed Hutin
to pay for the relays of horses, went off to sleep again and did not
wake up until we reached the yard of the post-house at Bourget. It was
then nearly three in the morning. I could not see General La Fayette
before eight or nine o'clock. We therefore accepted the post-house
master's offer of a cup of coffee and a bed. But, as I was not sure
of myself and afraid of sleeping twenty-four hours, I begged I might
be waked at seven--a promise that was given and kept religiously. At
nine o'clock in the morning we entered the Hôtel de Ville. I found the
general at his post in his usual blue uniform, with white waistcoat
and cravat, but it was slightly more dishevelled, his waistcoat rather
more open and his tie more soiled than when I left him. Poor general!
he was not so fortunate as I, who was still able to speak, while he
could not utter a word. He held out his arms and embraced me--that was
the utmost he could do. Happily, in subsidiary matters, Carbonnel could
take his place, so, when a deputation from a commune arrived, while the
general greeted the mayor and his associates, Carbonnel attended to the
reception of the ordinary municipal councillors. But the general made
a special effort for me: he not merely held out his arms and embraced
me, but he tried to congratulate me on my success and to express his
satisfaction at seeing me back safe and sound; however, unluckily for
my _amour-propre_, his voice gave out and the sound stuck half-way in
his throat. The same thing occurred, if Virgil is to be believed, three
thousand years before, to Turnus. Bonnelier, who was still able to
speak, took me by the arm and exclaimed, lifting his eyes to heaven--
"Oh! my friend! what a bad time of it your devils of Republicans gave
us yesterday! Happily, however, it is all over now!"
This was Hebrew to me, but the phrase, _Happily it is all over now!_
troubled me much, I, who was myself a Republican; it was clear some
battle must have been lost. And, indeed, events had marched on
violently during the forty-four hours of my absence! Let us see what
had happened and bring things up to their present juncture.
CHAPTER VIII
First Orléanist proclamation--MM. Thiers and Scheffer go to
Neuilly--The evening at Saint-Cloud--Charles X. revokes the
Ordinances--Republican deputation at the Hôtel de Ville--M.
de Sussy--Audry de Puyraveau--Republican proclamation--La
Fayette's reply to the Duc de Mortemart--Charras and Mauguin
I Think I ended one of my preceding chapters, saying, "This story
changed the plans of M. Thiers, who, instead of writing his article,
got up and ran off to Laffitte's house!"
M. Thiers was an Orléanist, like M. Mignet: a dinner at M. de
Talleyrand's, at which _Dorothée_ had been charming, had led these two
public men astray; Carrel, alone, had separated from them and remained
Republican.[1] So, on the morning of the 30th, M. Thiers and M. Mignet
had issued a proclamation couched in the following terms:--
"Since Charles X. has shed the blood of the people he can
no longer re-enter Paris. But a Republic would expose us
to frightful divisions and embroil us with Europe. The Duc
d'Orléans is a prince who is devoted to the Revolutionary
cause. The Duc d'Orléans has never fought against us. The
Duc d'Orléans was at Jemmapes. The Duc d'Orléans is a
citizen king. The Due d'Orléans has carried the tricolour
standard into battle and he, alone, can still uphold it: we
want no other colours. The Duc d'Orléans does not proclaim
himself, but waits for our devotion. Let us give it and
he will accept the Charter as we have always intended and
wished him to do. He will have his crown from the French
people themselves!"
This proclamation was evidently the answer to the written note in
Oudard's hands sent from Neuilly to Paris at a quarter-past three
o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately, the proclamation had been hooted
in the place de la Bourse and torn down from the walls upon which it
had been pasted. The Revolutionary spirit was still abroad in the
streets. Thiers had gone back to the _National_ offices when he saw
the effect produced by his proclamation. The news of the escape of the
Duc de Chartres made an excuse to go to Neuilly: all gates open to a
messenger who comes to announce to a father and mother the safety of
their child. When he reached Laffitte, he learnt that negotiations
were going on with Neuilly. The Duc d'Orléans was in direct
correspondence with M. Laffitte by means of Oudard and Tallencourt.
In all probability, the duchess herself did not know to what length
negotiations had been carried. Madame Adélaïde was, no doubt, better
acquainted with the secrets of her brother than was the wife with her
husband's: the Duc d'Orléans had great belief in the almost masculine
intelligence of his sister. Laffitte no longer presided over his salon;
but Bérard was its head. What was the reason of Laffitte's absence?
The answer given to inquirers was that he was suffering too much pain
from his sprain. The fact was that Laffitte, urged to it by Béranger,
was busy making a king. M. Thiers complained loudly that he would be
forgotten. Béranger laughed in his face, with that smile peculiar to
the author of _Dieu des bonnes gens._
"Why the devil shouldn't the absent be forgotten?" he said to him.
And, indeed, M. Thiers had been absent for four hours from Laffitte's
salon; four hours during a Revolution is equivalent to four years! In
four hours a world may disappear or be completely changed.
M. Thiers went to find M. Sébastiani, and got a programme from him.
Everybody wanted to add his own little brick to the building of the new
kingdom. Scheffer, the painter, an artist of immense distinction and
a man of great consequence, a friend of the Duc d'Orléans, and almost
an official of his household, was preparing to set out for Neuilly as
the Embassy of the Municipal Commission. M. Thiers attached himself to
Scheffer and accompanied him. But the road to Neuilly was cut off by a
regiment of the Guards.
"The devil!" exclaimed Thiers, "suppose they arrest us and discover the
programme!..."
"Give it to me," said Scheffer.
He took it from the hands of Thiers, reduced it as small as possible,
slipped it in the hollow of his left hand through the opening of
his glove, and they reached Neuilly without accident. But the Duc
d'Orléans had found he was too near the royal troops at Neuilly and
had retired to Raincy, after dictating the famous note to Oudard; it
was, therefore, with Raincy that Laffitte corresponded during the
30th. The two emissaries only found the duchess and Madame Adélaïde at
Neuilly. Louis Blanc's information on this subject is very full and he
has related the scene most accurately; we therefore refer those of our
readers who desire to know every detail to his account. We will confine
ourselves to saying that the queen[2] indignantly repulsed the offer
of the throne, but that Madame Adélaïde, less scornful and indignant,
repulsed nothing, promising nearly everything in her brother's name. M.
de Montesquieu was immediately sent to Raincy.
The movement the race of Orléans had been waiting for, since it had
existed in close proximity to royalty, had come at last. The object
of that ambition, awakened in the mind of the duke since 1790, and
nourished with the greatest care during the fifteen years of the reign
of Louis XVIII. and Charles X., could now be attained; there was
nothing to do but to stretch out his arm and give the word. But, at
that decisive hour, courage nearly failed the Duc d'Orléans. He had
decided to set off behind M. de Montesquieu, he sent him on to announce
his arrival and did in fact really start; but he returned after going
only a quarter of a league. What made Louis-Philippe king of the French
was by no means his ambition, which had collapsed on the Raincy road;
it was the fear of losing an income of six million francs that really
decided him to become king of the French.
Meanwhile, at the same time that the Duc d'Orléans was returning to
Raincy as fast as his horses could gallop, the Chamber opened and M.
Laffitte was enthusiastically nominated its President: this was the
first flattering sign of coming power--M. Laffitte, so to say, laid the
foundation-stones of the kingdom of July.
Whilst M. Thiers was returning from Neuilly, and relating to those who
were disposed to listen the charming reception bestowed upon him by the
princesses; whilst the Duc d'Orléans was nearly forfeiting his destiny,
by turning his back on the power he had greatly coveted; whilst M.
Laffitte was pursuing his dream of ten years and serving that weakening
ambition, which, in process of realisation, blew upon his fortune and
popularity and extinguished, instead of reanimating both, let us say in
few words what the Royalists were doing on one side and the Republicans
on the other.
When Charles X. had given in to M. de Vitrolles', M. de Sémonville's
and M. d'Argout's desires; when he let them extort a promise from
him that MM. de Mortemart, Gérard and Casimir Périer should be the
three chief members of a new Ministry; when he had persuaded M. de
Mortemart to be the chief of this new Cabinet, he thought he had done
all that was needful, and began playing whist with M. de Duras, M.
de Luxembourg and Madame la Duchesse de Berry. Whilst Charles X. was
playing, M. Mortemart was waiting for the king to give him orders for
Paris; the dauphin, fearing the king would give these orders, after
having positively forbidden the sentinels at the bois de Boulogne to
allow anyone whatsoever to pass through Saint-Cloud to Paris, stood
mechanically gazing at a geographical map. When the game was finished,
the king announced that he was going to bed. Then M. de Mortemart,
who could not understand why the king should have been eager for him
to accept office, and then, since he had accepted it, to become inert
after doing so, approached and asked--
"Does your Majesty command me to go?"
The king, who had just been eating burnt almonds, replied, while he
chewed a toothpick--
"Not yet, Monsieur le Duc, not yet.... I am waiting for news from
Paris."
And he went to his bedroom.
M. de Mortemart felt ready to leave Saint-Cloud, but a final sentiment
of devotion towards the royal fortune, which was near foundering, kept
him at the palace. So he went back into the apartments that had been
assigned to him, but did not go to bed.
We have seen how MM. de Vitrolles, de Sémonville and Argout had been
received both by the Municipal Commission and by M. Laffitte. MM. de
Vitrolles and d'Argout returned to Saint-Cloud in order to relate the
result of their mission; they lost sight of M. de Sémonville on the
way. M. de Sémonville's conscience was quite satisfied by his first
visit to Saint-Cloud and he now thought he had a right to do something
to secure his position as grand referee. So he remained in Paris.
In the opinion of MM. de Vitrolles and d'Argout, there was not a
moment to be lost, though, even in not losing a moment, still, in all
probability, nothing more could have been done to save the Monarchy.
They found M. de Mortemart up and in a state of despair.
All that night, whilst the king was tranquilly playing whist and
the dauphin was mechanically consulting his geographical charts, he
had stood on the balcony looking towards the capital, bursting with
impatience and trembling at every noise that came from the direction
of Paris, as a filial son might tremble at each crack of the paternal
foundations that are about to fall. He related to MM. de Vitrolles
and d'Argout the various alarms and agonies of disappointment he had
suffered. His hearers wanted to carry him back to Paris with them.
"What shall I do there?" replied M. de Mortemart. "I have no official
character. Can I go and say like a mere adventurer, 'The Ordinances
are revoked and I am Minister'? Who would believe me? An order, or
signature or some means of recognition and I would join you at once."
It had been decided, then and there, to draw up the fresh Ordinances
and to revoke those of the 25th, and that, when they were drawn up,
the king should sign them. They were actually drawn up then and there,
but the hitch came when the signing by the king was needful. Etiquette
was rigid: only those in high quarters who had the right of entrée
were privileged to have direct access to the king's private rooms and
none of these three gentlemen possessed that right. So the Life Guards
refused them an entry. They tried to win over the valet de chambre. He,
too, refused to let them pass.
Why not? Did not the valet de chambre refuse M. de La Fayette's
entrance to Louis XVI.'s cabinet on 6 October 1789, when he came
to save the lives of Louis XVI. and his family from the universal
slaughter going on--because he had not the right of entrée?
Alas! King Charles X. had not even a Madame Élisabeth by him to exclaim
to the stupid valet de chambre--
"No, monsieur, he has not the right of entrée, but the king grants it
him."
No, they had to resort to threats and to tell the man they should hold
him responsible for the misfortunes that would attend his refusal. The
valet de chambre was terrified and gave way under the heavy weight of
such a responsibility. The king was asleep: they had to wake him and
tell him that Paris was in a state of revolution, preparing to create
a Republic; that it was up in arms and threateningly dangerous, but
might yet be overcome; to-morrow Paris would be inexorable: all these
arguments had to be used before the king made up his mind. The struggle
continued from midnight until two in the morning and, at a few minutes
after two, the king signed.
"Ah!" he murmured, as he laid the pen down, "King John or François I.
would have yielded only on the field of battle!"
M. de Mortemart overheard this aside and was for returning and throwing
the Ordinances upon the ungrateful monarch's bed, but MM. d'Argout and
de Vitrolles led him away.
"Oh!" he muttered, "if it were not a question of saving the head of a
king!..."
They entered a coach and set off, but were stopped when they reached
the bois de Boulogne. The dauphin, as we said, had given strict orders
to the sentinels not to let anyone coming from Saint-Cloud pass on
to Paris. He had foreseen what would happen. M. de Mortemart was
obliged to go round the bois de Boulogne on foot, to make a detour of
three leagues and to enter Paris by means of a breach in a wall made
for contraband purposes. When he entered Paris, he saw the Orléanist
proclamations posted up on its walls. The Republicans had also seen
them. Pierre Leroux was among the first to reach one that had only
just been stuck to the wall; he pulled it down and carried it off to
Joubert, in the passage Dauphine.
"If that is true," they exclaimed unanimously, "we must begin all over
again; stir up the hotbeds afresh and start making new bullets."
Messengers were instantly sent off to rally the scattered Republicans
and, within an hour, a meeting was held at Lointier's house. I took
no part in that meeting. I was running from the Hôtel de Ville to
Laffitte's at the time, trying to find that mysterious Provisional
Government which everybody had heard of but no one had seen. I had just
left the Hôtel de Ville as a Republican deputation arrived; it, too,
had drawn up a proclamation. M. Hubert, a former lawyer and one of the
most honourable men I ever met, who has recently died, leaving the
whole of his fortune to hospitals and philanthropic institutions and
to citizens persecuted for their democratic opinions, was deputed to
present the following address to General La Fayette:--
"The people yesterday won back their sacred rights at
the price of the shedding of their own blood; the most
precious of these rights is that of a free choice of
its own government; any-proclamation must be withheld
that designates a head before a form of government has
been determined upon. There already exists a provisional
representation appointed by the nation, let this be
maintained until the wishes of the majority of the French
people be known."
It will be seen that everybody believed in the truth of the mythical
and invisible trilogy consisting of La Fayette, Gérard and Choiseul.
The members of this deputation were Charles Teste, Trélat, Hingray,
Bastide, Guinard and Poubelle. Hubert, the head of it, walked in
advance, carrying the note they were going to read, at the point of his
bayonet. The deputation was at once admitted: nobody was kept waiting
in antechambers by General La Fayette. There was a lively discussion;
La Fayette knew nothing of all the Orléanist plots and protested with
the candour of ignorance. The Republicans on their side affirmed it
with instinctive vigour.
"General," said Hubert, "we adjure you by the bullet holes on the
ceiling over your head to take the dictatorship!"
They had got to this point and the general was, perhaps, on the verge
of yielding, when he was told that M. de Sussy wished to speak to him.
The Republicans stood there uneasy, gloomy, full of doubt, with looks
turned as though interrogating the general and summoning him to repeat
aloud the communication that was being whispered to him. The general
well knew there must not be any hedging at such a crisis; moreover, his
upright mind and loyal heart detested all dissimulation.
"Show M. de Sussy in," he said aloud.
"But, General, M. de Sussy desires to speak with you privately."
"Tell M. de Sussy to come in," repeated the general; "I am in the midst
of friends."
M. de Sussy entered and was obliged to divulge the business that had
brought him there. His news was well-timed: he came to announce to
General La Fayette the revocation of the Ordinances, the appointment of
the Mortemart, Gérard and Casimir Périer coalition, the arrival of M.
de Mortemart at Paris and, finally, the refusal of the Chamber, which
favoured the Duc d'Orléans, to receive the new Ordinances signed by
Charles X. at three in the morning--just at the very time when the Duc
d'Orléans was dictating the famous note which had put MM. Thiers and
Mignet in such a state of commotion.
Matters having thus come to light, the hands of each party were exposed
to view on the same table at once: the hand played by Charles X. in
making the Mortemart, Gérard and Casimir Périer Ministry; M. Laffitte's
hand in proposing the Duc d'Orléans to the suffrage of the nation; and,
finally, the hand of the Republicans, urging La Fayette to accept the
dictatorship.
Had the thing been done on purpose and at a pre-arranged hour it could
not have succeeded better.
So there was trouble which was nearly fatal to M. de Sussy, from the
clash of powerful interests in that room. Bastide had taken him by the
collar and was just about to fling him out of the window when Trélat
restrained him. I shall have occasion to refer to Bastide more than
once, and I can speak for his honesty and courage, then and now. Like
all extreme excitement, this one was followed by a reaction. In this
case, reaction resulted in letting M. de Sussy go quietly under the
escort of General Lobau, who had opened the door and run in at the
infernal din he heard proceeding from La Fayette's cabinet.
The Republicans were now alone again with the general. They renewed
their entreaties to him until someone came and warned them that M.
de Sussy had inveigled himself into the Municipal Commission and was
laying before it Charles X.'s fresh proposals, to which the Commission
appeared anything but hostile. This was not the moment to argue with
La Fayette over the relative theories of constitutional government in
France and Republican government in the United States, whilst questions
of life or death were being debated by the Municipal Commission. They
must fly to that Commission: this was done, but the door was shut.
They knocked, but no one answered. A few blows with the butt-end of
their rifles and the door gave way to violence, exposing M. de Sussy
expounding his reasons to the members of the Municipal Commission,
who appeared to be listening to them with the greatest favour. This
apparition of six or eight armed men, who were well known for strength
of character, flung terror into the midst of the meeting; the members
rose and dispersed, trying to look as though nothing important was
going on. Whilst this was happening, Hubert felt a paper being slipped
into his hand; he turned round and recognised M. Audry de Puyraveau,
the only true patriot on the Commission.
"Take this proclamation," he said excitedly; "it was very near to
being signed an hour back by the Municipal Commission, but M. de
Sussy's arrival deferred all questions; climb up a post and read the
proclamation, spread it abroad, impose it upon the people.... They will
sign it if you make them afraid."
Well and good! This style of action just suited the politics of the
victors of the Louvre. All rushed down the steps of the Hôtel de
Ville; Hubert climbed up on a post, called the people round him and,
surrounded by his companions, read the following proclamation as though
issued by the Municipal Commission. Pay special attention to it, for it
was the only serious Republican manifesto which was produced in 1830.
Pay special attention to it, as it will show how far the most advanced
minds had reached at that time. Pay good heed, for it will teach you
what were the desires of the men who had been under persecution for
eighteen years because they were supposed to wish to overturn society.
When you have read that proclamation (it would be advisable to compare
it with those of MM. Thiers and Mignet), recall the Rights of Man of
1789, and you will see that the Republicans of 1830 were behind that
Declaration.
"France is a free country. She must have a Constitution.
She has only accorded the Provisional Government the right
to consult her. Meanwhile, until she has expressed her
wishes by means of fresh elections, let her respect the
following principles:--Let there be no more kingships, but a
Government controlled solely by representatives that shall
be elected by the nation--Executive power to be entrusted to
a temporary President--The mediate and immediate concurrence
of all citizens in the election of deputies--Religious
liberty--No more State religion--A guarantee of the
use of the land and sea forces against all arbitrary
dismissals--The establishment of National Guards in every
district of France, entrusting them with the defence of the
Constitution. These principles, for which we have recently
risked our lives, we will uphold, if need be, by means of
legitimate insurrection."
Whilst Hubert was reading this proclamation in the place de l'Hôtel de
Ville, M. de Sussy entered La Fayette's cabinet and, in spite of all
entreaties and bringing to bear the claims of relationship which bound
the La Fayettes with Mortemart, he could only extract the following
letter from the general:--
"MONSIEUR LE DUC,--I have received the letter with which you
have honoured me, with the habitual sentiments which your
personal character has always inspired. M. de Sussy will
give you an account of the visit he has been good enough
to pay me. I fulfilled your wishes by reading the contents
you addressed to me to the many persons who surrounded
me; I invited M. de Sussy to proceed to a small gathering
of the Commission then sitting at the Hôtel de Ville;
finally, I will remit the papers to General Gérard which he
entrusted to me; but the duties that detain me here render
it impossible for me to come and see you. If you will come
to the Hôtel de Ville, I shall be happy to receive you;
but it will be useless with respect to the subject of our
correspondence, since my colleagues have been informed of
your communications."
From that side, at any rate, M. de Mortemart could see that there was
no hope to be entertained. Meanwhile, Saint-Quentin, rising in revolt
simultaneously with Paris, had sent a deputation to General La Fayette
to ask for two students from the École polytechnique to command its
National Guard. The deputation added that they would only need to
risk one attempt upon La Fère and that, doubtless, they would be able
to drive away the 4th Regiment of artillery garrisoned in that town
under the command of Colonel Husson. Students of the École were often
about the Hôtel de Ville and were all so brave that there was no need
to pick out any of them specially. General La Fayette sent Odilon
Barrot for the first two he should happen to come across. He brought
back Charras and Lothon. Charras still had his hundred and fifty to two
hundred men encamped in a corner of the Hôtel de Ville, which formed
a corps of its own. The two young men were introduced to General La
Fayette's presence, who explained to them what was wanted and gave them
the opportunity of going to ask for the necessary authority from the
Provisional Government. Charras and Lothon then began to search for
that notorious Provisional Government for which I had hunted in vain,
and no doubt they were put on the same track as I was, for they reached
the same large hall adorned with the same great table covered with the
same bottles of wine and beer (empty ones, of course) and occupied by
the same quill-driver who was still writing with fierce assiduity....
What--nobody could ever discover. But nothing at all was to be seen
of any Provisional Government. Odilon Barrot himself went in search,
but it remained as unknown as the passage to the North Pole. They made
Mauguin join them, but he was not able to discover it either. The most
curious thing of all was, that those who had the greatest knowledge
of affairs believed in the existence of this fantastic Provisional
Government. Tired of their fruitless search, the two students, still
accompanied by Odilon Barrot and Mauguin, returned to the hall and its
large tables, its empty bottles and its clerk. They looked each other
full in the face.
"I cannot go and carry off a regiment without at least a letter to show
the officers," said Charras.
"I will write you one," Mauguin replied manfully.
"I thank you with all my heart," said Charras, "but, in the soldiers'
eyes, in spite of your courage and deserts, you will only be lawyer
Mauguin.... I would prefer a letter from General La Fayette."
"All right," replied Mauguin, "I will go and draw up your letter and
you can get him to sign it for you."
"Very well."
Mauguin took the pen from the solitary scribe, who, being interrupted
from his everlasting scribbling for a moment, got up and went to
investigate, one after another, the thirty bottles that littered the
table. His exploration was all in vain! He might as well have been
looking for the Provisional Government. Meanwhile Mauguin wrote, while
Charras read over his shoulder, shaking his head as he did so.
"What is wrong?" inquired Odilon Barrot.
"Oh!" said Charras, low enough so as not to be overheard by Mauguin,
"that isn't the way to write to military men ... dear, dear!"
Mauguin had come to the same conclusion himself, for he suddenly flung
down his pen and exclaimed--
"Devil take me, I don't know what to say to them!"
"Oh, hang it all," said Odilon Barrot, "let the gentlemen write their
own letter--and let us be content with getting it signed--they will
understand it better than we do."
And the pen was passed to Charras.
In a moment the proclamation was drawn up. Charras was writing the last
line when General Lobau came in; he, too, no doubt, was looking for the
Provisional Government.
"Hullo!" exclaimed Charras, "this exactly suits our book! Here we have
a real general under our thumb, and he shall sign our proclamation."
They addressed themselves to General Lobau, explained the situation,
and read him the letter, but the general turned his head away.
"Oh! dear me no! I am not such a fool as to sign that." And he went
away.
"Eh?" said Charras.
"I'm not surprised," said Mauguin. "A little while ago they refused to
put their signatures to an order to go and fetch powder from Soissons."
"That was my order."
"Then, he shrinks back?"
"No doubt of it."
"But, my goodness, in a revolution the man who does that is a
traitor.... I will go and have him shot down," cried Charras.
Odilon Barrot and Mauguin leapt to their feet.
"Have him shot! What are you thinking of?" ... Have General Lobau, a
member of the Provisional Government, shot! Who will you get to do the
job?"
"Oh! you need not be anxious on that score!" said Charras.
And, drawing Mauguin away towards the window, he said, pointing out to
his hundred and fifty men, "Do you see those fine fellows down there
round a tricolour standard? Well, they have taken the barracks of
Babylon under me; they recognise and obey me only, and if the Eternal
Father Himself were to betray the cause of liberty--which He is quite
incapable of doing--and I were to tell them to go and shoot Him, they
would do it!"
Mauguin bent his head down. He was terrified at what such men as these
might do. It was these men, these Republicans, as he called them, who
had done such injury to poor Hippolyte Bonnelier.
An hour later, Charras and Lothon departed for La Fère provided with a
letter signed by Mauguin and a proclamation by La Fayette. It differed
but little from mine, which, as we have seen, had been of little use
to me, as it had been in the hands of M. Missa[3] the whole time of my
stay in Soissons.
[1] I have been told I was mistaken in this information. But I appeal
to M. Thiers himself and to his _Souvenirs of 1829._ M. Thiers will not
have forgotten the reply made him at a masked ball, by a domino who
gave his arm to M. de Blancmesnil, a reply that obliged him to quit the
ball instantly. Perhaps, by the domino's permission, I shall be able to
relate the scene later.
[2] Translator's note.--Dumas probably means the duchess.
[3] See notes at end of volume.
CHAPTER IX
Philippe VII.--How Béranger justified himself for
having helped to make a King--The Duc d'Orléans during
the three days--His arrival in Paris on the evening of
the 30th--He sends for M. de Mortemart--Unpublished
letter by him to Charles X.--Benjamin Constant and
Laffite--Deputation of the Chamber to the Palais-Royal--M.
Sébastiani--M. de Talleyrand--The Duc d'Orléans accepts the
Lieutenant-Generalship of the Kingdom--Curious papers found
at the Tuileries
My first care after my warm reception by General La Fayette was, it
will be readily understood, to go and have a bath and change all my
clothes. The bath was not a difficult matter to obtain, as the Deligny
swimming bath was nearly opposite my rooms. When I entered, I must
say I frightened everybody, down even to old Jean. I consigned my
gun, pistols, powder and bullets to the page boy, with the remainder
of my three thousand francs. After which, whilst someone went to find
Joseph to tell him to bring me fresh linen and clothes, I took the most
delicious plunge I ever had in my life. An hour later I was quite in
a condition to present myself even before the Provisional Government,
if anybody could have told me where they were sitting. I sent home
my recently worn fighting outfit, and took my way in the direction
of the Hôtel Laffitte. I was eager for news. I had the very greatest
difficulty in gaining access to the famous banker. Nobody would
recognise me now; I was too well dressed. Discussion of the nature of
noisy talking was going on in the Salon. M. Sébastiani was said to have
come back from Prince Talleyrand bringing important news. What was
that news? Suddenly the door opened and M. Sébastiani, with a radiant
face, flung the substance of the following words to the three to four
hundred persons who crowded the dining-room, ante-chambers and passages.
"Messieurs, you may announce to everybody that from to-day the name of
the King of France will be Philippe VII."
Although I was expecting something of the kind, the shock was a
violent one. King for king, I liked King Charles X. almost as much as
King Philippe VII. Béranger went by at the moment, and I knew he must
have had a great deal to do in that nomination. I flung myself on his
neck, partly to embrace him, partly to provoke him to a quarrel, and,
laughing and scolding both together, I said:
"Ah! by Jove! you have just served us a fine trick, father."
I called Béranger "father," and he was so gracious as to call me his
"son."
"What is it I have done, my son?" he replied.
"What have you done? Well, you have made a king."
His face assumed its usual expression of gentle seriousness.
"Pay deep attention to that which I am going to say to you, my child,"
he resumed. "I have not exactly made a king ... No...."
"What have you done, then?"
"What the little Savoyards do in a storm.... I have put a plank across
the stream."
How many times since have I pondered on that sad and philosophical
illustration! It modified some of my ideas; it directed my historical
studies in 1831 and 1832; and, in 1833, it inspired me with the
epilogue to _Gaule et France._ Béranger moved away. I remained in
meditation. What would have happened, supposing I could have foreseen
that the most prosaic of any throne upon earth should be raised by a
poet in 1830, and overthrown by another poet in 1848? What a strange
setting Béranger and Lamartine were to those eighteen years of reign!
I was only distracted from my reveries by the murmurs which went on
around me. A violent scene was being enacted close by.
A former secretary of Ouvrard, named Poisson, had just opened the door
of M. Laffitte's salon, and was declaring, with oaths that were enough
to shake the house, that he would have no king. And this opinion was
shared, too, by all those who were there.
No, I repeat it, that election was not popular at first, and, from the
Hôtel Laffitte to the Palais-Royal, where I next went in pursuance
of the flight of the news, I heard more imprecations than applause.
I went to No. 216 for fuller details. The Duc d'Orléans was at the
Palais-Royal. But if Oudard were within he kept himself invisible.
There were porters and clerks, however, all extremely visible and
well-informed, because everything was talked of in their presence,
they being regarded as of no importance; they are a garrulous lot when
they condescend to step down from their self-imputed importance. And
I should add that, besides the porters and clerks, there were two or
three people who were also perfectly well-informed of the news.
Now, I will guarantee the accuracy of what had occurred and I challenge
anybody to dispute the fact. The Duc d'Orléans returned to the
Palais-Royal at eleven on the night of the 30th. Let us follow his
movements curiously during the three days. The news of the Ordinances
and the noise of firing reached the duke at Neuilly, where he spent
his summers. From the few words we have already spoken, by the silence
and delays with which Laffitte's suggestions were first received, it
could be seen that his Highness was extremely anxious. As long as the
kingdom hung before his eyes, like a motionless phantom on the horizon,
the duke approached it obliquely, timidly and by tortuous ways; yet
none the less did he aim for it. But when that phantom took definite
shape and drew nearer to him, he grew alarmed. The phantom could no
longer label itself a kingdom, but usurpation; it no longer wore the
crown of Saint Louis, but the red cap of Danton and Cellot-d'Herbois.
The Duc d'Orléans was courageous, but not to the point of audacity. We
repeat--and we look upon it as a virtue in him--that he was afraid.
During the 28th and 29th he remained hidden in one of the small huts in
his park at Neuilly, which bore the name of the Laiterie (the Dairy).
On the morning of the 29th they brought him a bullet that had fallen
in the park. And on that same day, after he had received from Laffitte
the message "A crown or a passport," his uneasiness increased to such
an extent that, thinking he was not thoroughly concealed in the hut,
he started with Oudard for Raincy. He wore a maroon-coloured coat,
blue trousers and a grey hat in which blossomed a tricolour cockade
that Madame Adélaide had made him. Before he started, he left behind
a note, dated 3.15 in the morning, to make people believe he was at
Neuilly. On the 30th, as we have told, after the visit of MM. Thiers
and Scheffer, they despatched M. de Montesquieu to him. We have related
how he left Raincy and then returned to it. During the whole of the
30th he remained at Raincy without showing any signs of his existence.
But all the time messages were piling up, and one of them having
announced that a deputation from the Chamber had come to offer him the
crown, he then decided to return to Neuilly, which he reached towards
nine in the evening. Madame Adélaide had taken possession of a copy of
the declaration from the Chamber, perhaps even the actual declaration
itself. It was read aloud in the park by torchlight, in the presence
of the whole family. He could no longer hold back, but had to choose
between the throne--that is to say, the everlasting ambition of his
race--or exile, which was the perpetual terror of his life. He embraced
his wife and children and set out for Paris only accompanied by three
persons: M. Berthois, M. Heymes and Oudard. It was ten at night when
they left the carriage at the barrier; they entered Paris, climbed over
the barricades and reached 216 rue Saint-Honoré. The duke re-entered
the Palais-Royal by the side entrance used by the employés, and not by
the main court and staircase of honour. He went upstairs to Oudard's
office, which was, it will be remembered, next to my old office. There,
exhausted with fatigue, running with sweat, and shivering convulsively,
he flung off his coat, waistcoat and shirt, even to his flannel vest,
changed clothes, sent for a mattress and threw himself upon it. He
knew of M. de Mortemart's arrival in Paris, and with what honourable
object the duke had come; he sent for him to beg him at once to come
to the Palais-Royal. A quarter of an hour later M. de Mortemart was
announced. The Duc d'Orléans raised himself on one elbow.
"Oh! come here, come here, monsieur le duc!" he exclaimed in a short,
feverish voice when he saw him; "I hasten to tell you, so that you may
transmit my words to King Charles, how very grieved I am at all that
has happened."
M. de Mortemart bowed.
"You are returning to Saint-Cloud, are you not? You will go and see the
king?"
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Well, then," the duke continued in agitation, "tell the king they have
brought me to Paris by force. I was at Raincy yesterday, when a crowd
of men invaded the Château of Neuilly.... They asked to see me in the
name of the re-union of the Chamber, but I was absent. They threatened
the duchess, telling her she would be taken to Paris a prisoner with
her children until I reappeared, and she was afraid ... that is surely
easily conceivable in a wife?... She wrote me a note urging me to
return ... you know how fond I am of my wife and children;... that
consideration weighed with me before all others, and I returned. They
were waiting for me at Neuilly, seized me and brought me here ... that
is how I am situated."
Just at that moment, cries of "Vive le Duc d'Orléans!" resounded in
the street and penetrated right into the Palais-Royal courtyard. M. de
Mortemart shuddered.
"You hear, monseigneur?" he said.
"Yes, yes, I hear ... but I count for nothing in those shoutings, and
you can tell the king I would rather die than accept the crown."
"Should you have any objections, monseigneur, to assure the king of
these honourable intentions in writing?"
"None at all, monsieur, none at all.... Oudard, bring me a pen, paper
and ink."
Whilst Oudard was looking for them, the duke tore a blank sheet from
a sort of register which lay within his reach: it was a register in
connection with the Chevaliers de l'Ordre. Then, according to his
habit, to economise paper, he made the rough draft of his letter upon
the sheet he tore out of the register. It was, no doubt, owing to this
economy of his that we are able to give the public a copy of that
highly important, extremely curious and authentic letter. When the
Duc d'Orléans had written his letter, he crumpled up the rough copy
in his hands, threw it away behind him, and it rolled into a corner
by the fireplace, where it was picked up the next day. By whom, I
cannot say. I can only state that I copied the letter you are about to
read from that very rough draft itself. As for the fate of the final
letter, M. de Mortemart folded it, placed it inside his white cravat,
and went away to carry it to the king. It was this letter that Charles
X. re-read with much bitterness, when he learnt that Louis-Philippe
had accepted the crown. Here is the rough draft with his autograph and
erasures; we have not altered one single letter from the original, but
left it exactly as His Royal Highness wrote it.
"M. de ---- will tell Your Majesty how they brought me here
by force. I do not know to what point these people may go
in the employment of force towards me; but (_if it should
happen_) if in this fearful state of disorder it should
happen that they were to impose upon me a title to which I
have never aspired, Your Majesty may be (_convinced_) very
well assured that I will receive no kind of power except
temporarily, and in the sole interest of Our House.
"I hereby formally swear this to Your Majesty.
"My family share my feelings in this matter.
"(Your faithful subject)."
PALAIS-ROYAL,
_July_ 31, 1830.
We will now invite our readers, those especially who like to form
an exact impression of the character of the men who are chosen for
leaders of humanity; we will, we say, invite them to compare this copy
of the letter with the note sent from Neuilly during the night of the
29th of July.
Louis-Philippe as a private individual, Louis-Philippe as politician
and Louis-Philippe as king, are all faithfully depicted by his own
hand in that note and that rough draft of a letter. But the date of
31 July puzzles us, especially after the lapse of twenty-two years.
Is it an error of the duke's, or was the note not signed until after
midnight?--this would make the date of the 31st correct; or, again, as
is just conceivably possible, was it signed only on the evening of the
31st? Our own opinion is that it was signed on the morning of the 31st,
between one and two o'clock, after midnight. And we base our opinion on
the fact that, at one o'clock in the morning M. Laffitte had not yet
been informed of the arrival of the Duc d'Orléans. Besides, the salons
of the illustrious banker, deserted little by little by those whom
the silence and absence of the Duc d'Orléans rendered anxious, kept
on thinning in a manner far from re-assuring. At two o'clock in the
morning, indeed, no one was left in the salon but Laffitte and Benjamin
Constant. Béranger had just retired, worn out with fatigue.
"Well!" Laffitte remarked with his accustomed imperturbability, "what
do you think of the situation, Constant?"
"I?" the author of _Adolphe_ laughingly replied. "Well, my dear
Laffitte, it is a hundred chances to one that by to-morrow at this hour
we shall be hung."
Laffitte made a gesture.
"Ah! I quite understand that. You are not madly in love with hanging;
it would spoil your pretty pink face and your well-groomed hair and
your perfectly adjusted cravat; while I, with my long yellow face, look
as though I had been hanged already, and the cord would add little to
my physiognomy."
With this compliment, the two men separated at half-past two in the
morning. It was only at five that they waked M. Laffitte to warn him of
the arrival of the Duc d'Orléans in Paris.
"Oh!" said he, "Benjamin Constant is distinctly wrong, and we shall not
be hanged."
Now, at eight o'clock in the morning the deputation from the Chamber,
which had presented itself at Neuilly the previous day, appeared at
the Palais-Royal, headed by General Sébastiani. He was the very same
general who, on 29 July, said, "Beware lest you go too far, gentlemen
... we are merely negotiating, and our part is that of mediators, we
are not even deputies!"--the same who, on the 30th, said, "The only
national thing in France is the white flag!"--again, on the 31st, "Go,
Monsieur Thiers, and try to persuade the Duc d'Orléans to accept the
crown!" and, again, on I August, "Gentlemen, tell the whole world that
the name of the King of France is now Philippe VII.!" In a word, he who
later was to say, "Order reigns at Warsaw!"
Nor let us forget that it was this same General Sébastiani who, on my
first visit to Paris, received me with four secretaries, each stationed
in the four corners of his room ready to offer him snuff out of a gold
snuff-box.
A regular character to be studied during a revolution, and one whose
memory I should like to preserve to posterity! Why have not such men
the power of imprinting their images (like that of the Christ) on the
handkerchiefs with which they mop their ambitious brows?
The Duc d'Orléans put in an appearance this time; he promised nothing
definite, but he pledged himself to give his answer in an hour. He,
too, like Brutus, had a Delphic Oracle to consult. His special Oracle
lived at the corner of the rue de Rivoli and the rue Saint Florentin.
Louis Blanc relates how, on 29 July 1830, at five minutes past noon,
a window was timidly opened at the corner of the rue Saint Florentin,
but, timidly as it opened, a shrill cracked voice cried out--
"Monsieur Keiser, Monsieur Keiser, what are you doing?"
"I am looking into the street, prince."
"Monsieur Keiser, you will be the cause of my house being broken into."
"No chance of that, prince: the troops are beating a retreat and the
people are busily engaged in pursuing them."
"Oh! really, Monsieur Keiser?"
Then the person addressed by the title of prince rose, limped towards
the clock, and in a reassured and almost solemn tone of voice, he said--
"Monsieur Keiser, make a note in your diary that on 29 July, at five
minutes past noon, the Elder Branch of the House of Bourbon ceased
reigning over France."
That lame old man, who in prophetic utterance had announced the
downfall of Charles, was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord, Prince
of Benevento, once Bishop of Autun, who was the first to suggest
the sale of the benefices of the clergy in 1789; who said mass upon
the altar of patriotism on 14 July 1790, the day of the fête of the
Federation; who was sent, in 1792, to London by Louis XVI. to assist
the Ambassador M. de Chauvelin; who was Foreign Minister in 1796,
under the Directory; created Grand-Chamberlain on the accession of the
Emperor in 1804; created Prince of Benevento in 1806; and received the
title of Vice-Grand Elector, with a salary of five hundred thousand
francs, in 1807; who was made a member of the Provisional Government
in 1814; and Minister for Foreign Affairs and envoy extraordinary to
Vienna, by Louis XVIII. in the same year; who was appointed Ambassador
to London by Louis-Philippe in 1830; and who, finally, died, more or
less of a Christian, on 18 May 1838.
Now, I have frequently heard men who were most conversant with
contemporary politics and with the corruption of the times wonder
how M. de Talleyrand had managed to get pardoned by Louis XVIII.
for having been a member of the Constituent Assembly, sworn Bishop,
officiating Minister at the Champs de Mars, Minister of the Directory,
plenipotentiary of Bonaparte, Grand-Chamberlain to the Emperor, etc.
etc.
I am going to tell you a thing of which future history would otherwise
be unaware, a fact that will probably not come out until true Memoirs
of the Prince are published.
M. de Talleyrand was warned of the First Consul's intention to arrest
and shoot the Due d'Enghien eight or ten days in advance. He summoned
a courier upon whom he knew he could rely, and sent a letter by him
to the duke, telling him to sew it into his coat collar, to set off at
top speed and only to give the letter to the Due d'Enghien himself.
The letter urged the prince to leave Ettenheim instantly, and warned
him of his threatened danger. The courier left in the night of 7 and
8 August 1804. It is known that the order to arrest the prince was
not issued till the 10th. The courier started as we have described,
but, going down the hill of Saverne at a gallop, his horse fell, and
broke its rider's leg. Unfortunately, he could not intrust his mission
to the first-comer, and he dared not take any such responsibility,
so he wrote to ask M. de Talleyrand what he was to do. By the time
M. de Talleyrand had received the letter it was already too late to
take any step; the order for the arrest had already gone forth. But
Prince Condé and Louis XVIII. and Charles X. knew the story, and
hence arose the pardon granted to a Republican and Bonapartist, for
misdeeds of the former Bishop of Autun. Now it was Talleyrand that his
future majesty of the Palais-Royal wished to consult before venturing
to pick up the crown which had rolled from the head of Charles X. in
the blood of the barricades. It was General Sébastiani whom the Duc
d'Orléans commissioned to interrogate the oracle. The said oracle was
extremely vexed that everything had been done without him until then,
that M. Laffitte had looked upon him as of little account, and he only
condescended to reply in these words: "Let him accept."
After this reply, the prince accepted at the end of the promised hour,
and the following proclamation was affixed to all the walls of the
capital announcing this acceptance to the Parisians:--
"INHABITANTS OF PARIS,
"The deputies of France, at this time assembled in Paris,
have expressed the desire that I should come to the capital
in order to discharge the duties of Lieutenant-General of
the kingdom. _I have not for one moment wavered in coming
to share your dangers_, by placing myself in the centre of
the heroic population, and I will use all my endeavours
to preserve you from civil war and anarchy. In returning
to the City of Paris, I wore with pride those glorious
colours which you have regained and which I for a long time
have worn. The Chambers are about to re-assemble; _they
will confer concerning the best means of bringing about the
reign of law and the maintenance of order._ _A_ Charter will
henceforth be a fact.
"L. P. D'ORLÉANS"
There were three noticeable points in this proclamation:
The duke, first of all, declares that he _did not waver for one moment
in coming to share the dangers_ of the Parisian people. A lie, since,
on the contrary, he hid himself both at Neuilly and at Raincy during
the time of danger, and only reached Paris when the danger was over on
the night of the 30th. Next, he announces that the Chambers were about
to assemble to _confer concerning the best methods of bringing about
the reign of law and the maintenance of order_; which statement was
a calumny against the people; for, if ever people respected law and
maintained order it was the people of July 1830. Finally, M. le Duc
d'Orléans said that _a_ Charter would henceforth be a genuine fact.
He should have said that, from the very next day, not _a_ Charter
but _the_ Charter, a change imperceptible to the eye and almost to
the ear, which brought with it, however, the grave consequence that
France, instead of having a new charter, was simply to have the Charter
of Louis XVIII., and this meant that the king of the barricades, by
appropriating that old charter, not only did not take the trouble to
draw up another, but, with a new form of government, only promised
to give the people the same amount of liberty as that promised by
the fallen Government. This was, indeed, a bold start on a career of
kingship. Lying, calumny and chicanery: Louis XI. himself could not
have gone farther.
I said that, at the close of this chapter, I would give some idea of
the stinginess of the Duc d'Orléans. Perhaps this is not exactly the
place for the fragments we are about to introduce to our readers'
notice; but those who think they interrupt the course of the narrative,
can carry their imaginations elsewhere.
Let us first of all explain how these fragments of information fell
into our hands. To do this in one step we must skip over a period of
eighteen years; and, instead of the young man who took active part in
all we have just read, substitute the mature man who stood aside, and
sadly watched the passing of the events of that long reign; we must
suppose the Lieutenant-general, to whose proclamation we have just
listened, to be a king, also grown old and unpopular and driven away
in his turn; we must imagine ourselves to have left behind Sunday
morning, August 1830, for three o'clock in the afternoon of 24 February
1848. Then, the king gone and the Tuileries seized and the Republic
proclaimed, I returned alone, sad and anxious, more of a Republican
than ever, but of the opinion that the Republic was ill-constituted,
ill-matured and ill-promulgated; I returned, my heart depressed by
the spectacle of a wife cruelly repulsed, two children separated from
their mother, two princes put to flight, one hunted through the rostral
columns of the Place de la Concorde, the other along the circular
staircases of the Palace of the Deputies; I returned, wondering if
all I had seen and heard could actually be true, or whether I was not
rather under the influence of a strange nightmare, a mysterious vision;
I returned and, metaphorically speaking, felt myself to see if I could
really be alive--for it is sometimes as easy for us to doubt our own
existence as to doubt the weirdly strange events that we see passing
under our very eyes;--I returned, I say, by the Tuileries, with its
windows all open and its doors broken in, as on that famous 29 July
which I have described at, perhaps, too great length; but how could I
help myself? There are some memories which fill such a space in our
lives that we feel compelled to impress them upon the lives of others.
I was possessed with the idea of looking over the château that I had
entered once before and to begin in the same way, at the apartments of
King Louis-Philippe, on 24 February 1848, as I had through the rooms
that belonged to King Charles and on 29 July 1830.
The account of what I saw will be given elsewhere. I have only one
thing to relate, and here it is. As I went through the king's cabinet,
where all kinds of papers lay scattered over the floor, all soiled with
mud, in the midst of these forgotten, useless papers, condemned to the
fire and oblivion, I detected some pages covered with characters which
made me tremble. It was the king's writing; that very writing which,
twenty-five years before, had often passed under my eyes. A patriot of
1848, as ragged as a former patriot of 1830, kept guard over the king's
broken-open desk.
"Comrade," I said to the man, "may I have some of these papers that
litter the floor?"
"You can take them," he replied; "they are probably left because they
are of no value."
So I took them.
At the first Revolution I had come into possession of a copy of
_Christine_ inscribed with the arms of the Duchesse de Berry. At the
second, I obtained some old yellow papers that lay on the floor, which
I was allowed to take because the sentinel thought they were valueless.
It will be noticed that I am not one of the persons who grow rich out
of revolutions. True, I do not come under the category of those who are
submerged by them. I sail above them, like birds and clouds; then, when
the revolutions are over, I direct my flight, not to the side where lie
power and fortune, but to the 1 side of justice and faithfulness, even
though I should have to follow justice into exile and loyalty through
proscription.
But here is a copy of the papers: they themselves will speak better
than any notes or commentaries could.
THE CHILDREN'S BREAKFASTS
Fr. C.
The young princes and their {Six portions, at 90 c. 5.40
tutors {Seven loaves, at 20 c. 1.40
Princesses Louise and Marie {One soup, at at 1.50
and Madame de Mallet. {Two portions 1.80
{Two loaves 0.40
Princesse Clémentine and {One soup, at 1.50
Madame Angelet {One portion, at 0.90
{Two loaves 0.40
THE CHILDREN'S BREAKFASTS--(_continued_)
Fr. C.
Duc de Nemours and M. {Cold meat 1.50
Larnac, who take them to {Entremet 1.50
the college {Two portions 0.80
{Two loaves 0.40
______
[Extra sugar paid for separately]
Total by day, without coffee paid separately 18.50
Extra, 10 c. per portion 1.10
______
19.60
25 c. Soup and entremet 1.20
11 S., 13 loaves, 4 portions
______
20.80
_New Tariff of Expenses--Housekeeping Establishment_
For my table, the same except the suppression of the two fixed
price meals of 6 fr. and 12 fr. (18 fr. altogether), the two monthly
settlements of 1000 fr. and 150 fr. and a discharge to the contractor,
of the payment of 1010 fr. per annum for the water-carrier.
FOR MY CHILDREN'S TABLE, INCLUDING THEIR TEACHERS
_Breakfast_--(A special tariff kept up during my absence as well
as presence).
Fr. C.
Saucers of fruits or sweetmeats 1.0
Soup 1.80
Chicken or cold meat 1.80
Entremet of vegetables, etc 1.80
Each loaf 0.20
French rolls à la Reine 0.10
Cup of coffee, simple 0.50
_Id._ with cream 0.75
Tea and bread and butter 1.50
______
_Dinner and Supper_, charged at half mine when it is served at
same time, but at the same tariff as mine when I am absent and
when it is omitted. The demi tariff is accordingly as follows:--
Fr. C.
Soup 2.50
Entrees 4.50
Roast or flank 6.0
Entremets 2.50
Plate of dessert 1.50
Bread, coffee, tea, etc., the same as at breakfast
Sugar basins table Nothing
_Id._ in the rooms 2.0
Extra 2 francs per head and per day in case of absence or
omission of the superior meals, for those fed in the pantry and
the kitchen.
_Another Tariff of Household Expenses_
For the Princes' table, the same.
FOR THE CHILDREN'S
_Breakfasts_
Instead of
Fr.C. Fr.C.
Portions 0.90 1.0
Soups 1.25 1.80
Chicken and cold meat 1.25 do.
Entremet or vegetable, etc. 1.25 do.
French rolls 0.10
Bread, per person 0.20
Cup of coffee, simple 0.50
_Id._ with cream 0.75
Tea, complete 1.50
_Less per day_
Regular meals 18.0
Per month 37.80 60/61
Children's 48.0
______
Per day 103-80
_Id._ 104+46
______
_Extra_ 66c.
______
_Dinner or Supper_
Fr.C.
Soups. 2.50
Entrees. 4.50
Roast or flank 6.0
Entremets. 2.50
Dishes of dessert 1.50
[Bread, coffee and tea as before]
Except when there is only the Children's table to serve, in
which case it is tariffed the same as the Princes' table.
_Extra per day_
Children's breakfast (without coffee) 20.80
Dinner 43.0
Supper 38.90
Water-carrier. 2.76 60/61
______
Extra per day 105.46
______
In addition to this, in case of omission of these two tables,
the contractor receives 2 fr. per day per head both, for each
person maintained in the kitchen and in the office.
By means of this fresh tariff he is discharged from having
to pay the water-carrier; but he does not receive the fixed 12 fr.
per dinner and 6 fr. per breakfast for the Princes' table, nor the
1150 fr. per month for wood, coal and washing.
After this tariff the Children's breakfast--
Fr. C. Fr. C.
17.30+ 3.50
Fr. C. 20.80
Less 18{ 12 Their dinner 42.0 } Coffee not
{ 6 Their supper 38.90} included
And price per day
of 13,800 fr. per year, Total 98.20
37.80 Formerly 48.20
_____ _____
55.80 Difference extra 50.20
_Extra_ 56.46 Plus water-carrier 2.76
_____ _____
_Bonus_ 0.66 Extra per day 52.96
_____
ACCOUNTS
13,800 {365 Extra on breakfast
_____ tariff
{37.80
Portions, 1 fr. each:
2,850 Soup, cold meat, and
2,950 entremet
300 Each 1.80 3.50
_______ 1.010 _________________________
365 Makes 56.46 per day extra
_________________________
2800 {__________
{2.76 60/61
2,450
260.52
______ 98.20
2.76
565.61 _____
______ 100.96
______
CHAPTER X
The Duc d'Orléans goes to the Hôtel de Ville--M. Laffitte in his
sedan-chair--The king _sans culotte_--Tardy manifestation of the
Provisional Government--Odilon Barrot sleeps on a milestone--Another
Balthasar Gérard--The Duc d'Orléans is received by La Fayette--A superb
voice--Fresh appearance of General Dubourg--The balcony of the Hôtel de
Ville--The road to Joigny
We have not yet finished the account of the events that transpired
during my absence. Let me therefore be permitted to recall them: every
minute, unknown detail gives us the key to an uprising and helps to
explain the 5th of June, the 14th of April, or the 12th of May. Then,
too, it is well to know that there were men who never did accept that
government, but who resisted it for eighteen years, and succeeded in
the end in overthrowing it. These men ought to be paid the justice
that was their due: in spite of the calumnies, insults and trials to
which they were, and are still, subjected, their contemporaries ought,
indeed, to learn of their valour, courage, devotion, persistence and
loyalty. True, perhaps their contemporaries will not believe me. Never
mind! I shall have said it; others will believe me. Truth is one of
those stars which may remain buried in the depths of the heavens for
months, years, or even centuries, but which in the end, are invariably
discovered some day or other. And I would rather be the madman who
devotes his life to the discovery of those stars, than the wise man who
hails and worships one after the other all those suns that we have seen
rise, which were said to be fixed and immovable, but which proved to
be nothing but transitory meteors, of some brilliancy, more or less
deceptive, but always fatal in their influences!
The Duc d'Orléans, as we have seen, had already advanced a good way:
he had won over the Chamber of Peers--(we have not even alluded to
that conquest of his: except for the presence of Chateaubriand and
Fitz-James, it was not worth the trouble of registering it, and, as is
known, Chateaubriand and Fitz-James resigned);--he had won over the
Chamber of Deputies; at least, ninety-one signatures attested it.
It now only remained for him to conquer the Hôtel de Ville. Oh! but
that was quite another matter! The Hôtel de Ville was not the palace,
spoilt by the orgies of the Directory or the proscriptions of 1815;
it was not a factory where ambition and cupidity were forged, under
the disguise of devotion to the various powers which succeeded one
another for half a century. No, indeed; the Hôtel de Ville was the
stronghold of shelter for that great popular goddess termed Revolution,
during each fresh insurrection. And the spirit of Revolution again
held sway there. Power had come to the Duc d'Orléans; but, before that
power could be established, the duke had to come to the Revolution.
Her representative was an old man, true-hearted and clean-souled, but
enfeebled with age. Forty years before, when in the full tide of youth,
he had been found wanting at a time of Revolution: would they find what
they had vainly looked for at thirty, now he was seventy years of age?
Yes, perhaps, had he stood alone and free to exercise his own
convictions; for, since the former devotion to the cause of royalty,
he had thought and suffered much; he had known imprisonment and exile;
his name had been uttered in every Republican conspiracy, at Béfort and
Saumur; and we will describe later under what singular circumstances he
escaped proscription with Dermoncourt and execution with Berton. But he
was no longer a free agent. One party, the Orléanists, had circumvented
him; it was, in fact, quite a siege, cleverly conceived by Laffitte and
carried out by Carbonnel.
From hence arose that pregnant saying of Bonnelier: "Vos diables de
républicains nous ont donné bien du mal!" ("Your republican devils have
done us no end of harm!")
Indeed, it was only with difficulty that republicans gained access to
the good old general. They could easily be known, since their number,
at the period of which I am speaking, was small, and hardly had one or
other of these men come to see him before some one would come in and,
under various pretexts, either cut the conversation short or act as a
spy.
This was the man with whom the Duc d'Orléans had to deal, and
an easy task it was to the prince, who, when he liked, could be
most seductively fascinating. Still, the future king wished to be
accompanied by a deputation from the Chamber. The Chamber would sooner
have sent two deputations than one, and, had the duke expressed the
wish, it would have brought up the rear of the procession in a body.
M. Laffitte took the deputation to the Palais-Royal at the appointed
hour. They started; but the situation was more serious even than was
apparent; it was true that, under pretext of various missions, they had
sent the most zealous republicans away from Paris; but there were still
a good number left, and these proclaimed loudly that the newly-elected
monarch should not reach the Hôtel de Ville. The Duc d'Orléans was on
horseback, feeling, no doubt, uneasy at the bottom of his heart, but
looking calm outwardly. It was one of the prince's finest qualities:
fearful and irresolute while he could not fathom or see the danger;
when he was face to face with it, he met it bravely. He could not
have said with Cæsar: "Danger and I are two lions born at the same
time, I being the elder!" but he could have said he was the younger.
M. Laffitte followed in a sedan-chair carried by Savoyards; his foot
caused him horrible suffering; he was shod in slippers. Except for the
bandages which swathed it, one leg was bare. So, after he had offered
the crown to the prince, as president of the Chamber, he leant to him
and whispered low in his ear--
"Two slippers and only one stocking. This time, at any rate, if
_la Quotidienne_ saw us it would say we were creating a king _sans
culotte._"
All went well from the Palais-Royal to the quay. They were still in
the bourgeoisie quarter, and they had come to make a king in their own
image, as God made man after His own image. The bourgeoisie saw in the
king its own reflection, and gazed with complacency at its own image,
up to the moment when it discovered how ugly it was, and then it broke
the glass. So the bourgeoisie hailed his election. But, when on the
quay, and across the Pont Neuf, and the Place du Châtelet reached, not
only did the cheers cease altogether, but the faces of the crowd looked
dark, and tremors of anger could be felt in the air. Surely the spirits
of the dead were protesting against this new type of Bourbon. At the
Hôtel de Ville itself there was a great agitation going on. At last
the famous Provisional Government, hitherto invisible, materialised
itself: Mauguin, de Schonen, Audry de Puyraveau, Lobau, were all
anti-Orléanists: Lobau especially, who had refused to put his signature
to an order the previous day, was furious.
"I don't want this one any more than the rest!" he exclaimed; "he is
still a Bourbon!"
M. Barthe, the former Carbonaro, was present. The question of drawing
up a Republican proclamation arose, and he offered to undertake it,
picked up a pen and began to write. While he wrote, General Lobau grew
more and more exasperated and went up to M. de Schonen.
"We are risking our heads," he said to him; "but, what matters! Here
are two pistols, one for you, one for me ... it is all that is left to
two men who have no fear of death!"
These proceedings were not exactly re-assuring. Odilon Barrot could
be relied upon; he it was who had uttered those famous words at the
municipal commission the day before that are attributed to La Fayette,
as Harel's and Montrond's were attributed to M. de Talleyrand: "The Duc
d'Orléans is the finest Republic." Odilon Barrot was deputed to go to
the Palais-Royal to give the contrary order. Odilon Barrot, in common
with most people, had had little sleep for three days and he was worn
out with fatigue; he went down and found such a dense crowd and the
heat so intolerable that he called for a horse. Some one hastened to
fetch him one. While waiting, he leant against a milestone and fell
asleep. They were an hour before they could find him again, and, just
when they had succeeded and he had mounted the horse, the head of the
procession appeared in the Place de Grève.
Now I saw a great deal of Odilon Barrot at the Hôtel de Ville and
watched him very attentively, and I declare that no one could possibly
be more coolly courageous than he.
So the Duc d'Orléans had arrived; he had reached the Place de Grève,
and was, therefore, entering into the very centre of the Revolutionary
party. His horse's breast separated the crowd in front of it as a
ship's prow separates the waves. A frigid silence was maintained all
round him as he passed on. He was deadly pale. A young man, who was
even paler still, awaited him on the steps of the Hôtel de Ville with
arms crossed, hiding a pistol in his breast. He had conceived the
terrible resolution of firing at the prince point-blank.
"Ah! so you are playing the part of William the Silent," he said; "you
shall end as he did!"
One of his friends was standing by his side.
Just when the Duc d'Orléans stepped down from his horse and began to
ascend the Hôtel de Ville steps, this would-be Balthasar Gérard took a
step forward, but his companion stopped him.
"Do not compromise yourself uselessly," he said to him, "your pistol is
unloaded."
"Who unloaded it?"
"I did."
He led his friend away.
This was not the truth: the pistol was really loaded, but the lie
probably prevented the Duc d'Orléans from being shot down on the steps
of the Hôtel de Ville.
What reward did the man receive who saved the life of the future king
of the French? I will tell you: he was killed at Saint-Mery and died
cursing himself!
The Duc d'Orléans mounted the Hôtel de Ville steps with a firm tread;
he passed close to Death, unwitting that Death, who so nearly touched
him, had folded up his wings again. The gloomy vault of the old
municipal palace, like the huge throat of a stone gargoyle, swallowed
up the prince and his cortège. General La Fayette awaited him at the
head of the staircase of the Hôtel de Ville. The situation was so great
that men themselves appeared dwarfed. And, indeed, what did it mean:
that the prince of the Younger Branch of the Bourbons was paying a
visit to the hero of 1789? It meant that a democratic monarchy was to
break off for ever from an aristocratic monarchy; it was the fulfilment
of fifteen years of conspiracy; and the consecration of revolt by the
pope of liberty.
We ought, perhaps, to stop here at this great moment, since all other
details will seem paltry beside it.
The Duc d'Orléans, La Fayette and several of his friends formed the
central point of interest of a vast crowd of men holding very different
opinions. Some cheered, others protested. Four or five students from
the École Polytechnique were there bareheaded, but with swords bare
also. Some working men passed by, through the clearer spaces, shouting
with sunburnt, lowering faces, some of them bloodstained, and they were
gently pushed back so that the prince should not be offended by such
a sight. It was, indeed, remorse that was being driven back, with the
respect which is its due.
The matter in hand was the reading of the proclamation of the Chamber.
M. Laffitte had spoken at such great length, as had everybody else,
that he could not talk any longer. He held his proclamation in his
hand, and goodness alone knows what effect a proclamation read in the
grotesque tones of hoarseness would have produced!
"Give it me, give it me, my dear friend," shrieked M. Viennet, seizing
the proclamation out of the hands of the famous banker, "I have a
splendid voice!"
And it was, indeed, in superb tones that he read the proclamation of
the Chamber. When the reader reached the words, "The Committee for
judging delinquencies of the Press," the man who was to make the Laws
of September, leant over to La Fayette and, shrugging his shoulders,
asked--
"Will there be any more Press misdemeanours, now?"
When the reading was done he put his hand on his heart, a gesture much
affected by all newly crowned kings, which, however, always produces
the same successful effect.
"As a Frenchman," he said, "I deplore the harm done to the country and
the blood that has been shed; as a prince I am happy to contribute to
the welfare of the nation."
Suddenly a man advanced to the middle of the circle. It was General
Dubourg, the man of the black flag, the phantom of 29 July. He had
disappeared, and now reappeared only to disappear again once more.
"Take heed, monsieur," he said to the Duc d'Orléans; "you are aware of
our rights, the sacred rights of the people; if you forget them, we
will remind you of them!"
The duke stepped back, not because of this threat, but to take hold of
La Fayette by the arm, and leaning upon it, he replied--
"Monsieur, what you have just said proves that you do not know me. I am
an honest man, and when I have a duty to perform I do not let myself be
won over by entreaties, nor intimidated by threats."
Nevertheless the scene had made a vivid impression, an impression that
required to be combated.
La Fayette led the Duc d'Orléans out upon the balcony of the Hôtel de
Ville. And for the second time he staked his popularity on a throw of
the dice. The first time was on 6 October 1789, when he kissed the hand
of the queen upon the balcony of the Palais de Versailles. The second
time was on 31 July 1830, when he appeared upon the balcony of the
Hôtel de Ville, holding the Duc d'Orléans by the arm.
For a moment one might have supposed that this dramatic effect had
fallen flat; the square was lined with heads, with flashing eyes, with
gaping mouths,--all dumb. Georges La Fayette handed a tricolour flag
to his father. The folds floated round the general and the duke, and
brushed against their faces; both seemed to the people not resplendent
with self-emanating light, but illuminated by some celestial glory, and
the people burst into applause.
The game was won.
Oh! political players, how strong you are when a new man is to be
raised! How weak when it comes to the supporting of a power grown old!
The return of the Duc d'Orléans to the Palais-Royal was a triumph.
He had nothing left to desire: he had the triple recognition of the
Chamber of Peers, of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Hôtel de Ville.
He was the chosen-elect of M. de Lémonville, of M. Laffitte and La
Fayette.
That very same night one of the carriages called _Carolines_ fetched
the wife, sister and children of the Lieutenant-General of the realm
from Neuilly to the Palais-Royal. The Duc de Chartres was alone missing
from that reunion. He had, as we know, been sent away to Joigny. On the
road to Joigny his carriage had passed another carriage. It contained
Madame la Duchesse d'Angoulême, returning from her watering-place,
where she had been informed by telegraph of the grave troubles that
were agitating Paris. The two carriages pulled up, as the prince and
princess had recognised one another.
"What is the latest news, Monsieur de Chartres?" asked the Duchesse
d'Angoulême.
"Bad! madame, very bad!" replied the prince; "the Louvre is taken!"
Indeed, it was bad news for you, for your brothers, for your father and
for the whole family. And it is you, poor prince, who in the eyes of
posterity will be right!
BOOK IV
CHAPTER I
M. Thiers' way of writing history--Republicans at the
Palais-Royal--Louis-Philippe's first ministry--Casimir
Périer's cunning--My finest drama--Lothon and Charras--A
Sword-thrust--The Posting-Master of Bourget once more--La
Fère--Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau--Lothon and General La
Fayette.
Whilst the Duc d'Orléans was making his triumphal and happy entry into
the Palais-Royal, six or eight young men were gathered together above
the offices of the _National_ in the set of rooms shared by Paulin and
Gauja. They were looking at one another in silence--a silence all the
more threatening since they were still armed as on the day of battle.
These young men were Thomas, Bastide, Chevalon, Grouvelle, Bonvilliers,
Godefroy Cavaignac, Étienne Arago, Guinard, and, possibly, a few
others whose names have escaped me. According to the measure of their
impatience, they were either seated or standing. Thomas was seated in
the embrasure of a window, with his fowling-piece between his legs. He
was at that period a fine, handsome fellow, brimming over with loyalty,
courage and ingenuousness, with a cool head and a warm heart. So there
they all were relating the episode of the Odyssey of the Hôtel de
Ville, and M. Thiers came in while they were discussing the situation.
That morning an article had appeared in the _National_ on the arrest
of the Duc de Chartres at Montrouge. This article put the whole thing
in a perfectly new light. The Duc de Chartres had visited Paris to
lay his sword at the disposition of the Provisional Government, and
M. Lhuillier had offered him hospitality. The duke had left Montrouge
filled with enthusiasm with regard to the events happening in Paris,
and had promised to return with his own regiment.
A few days later, M. Lhuillier was decorated in recognition of this
article. It was really written by M. Thiers. The appearance, therefore,
of the future minister in the midst of this handful of Republicans was
not very auspicious. He had completely revealed his tactics since the
previous morning, and was now an Orléaniste. In this new character he
was uneasy at the meeting going on above his head, and decided to take
the bull by the horns; so he ascended to the first floor and entered,
as we have seen, unannounced. A significant murmur greeted his coming,
but M. Thiers met it with audacity.
"Messieurs," he said, "the Lieutenant-General wishes to have an
interview with you."
"For what purpose?" asked Cavaignac.
"What have we and he in common?" asked Bastide.
"Listen, though, gentlemen," said Thomas.
M. Thiers thereupon fancied he had found a supporter, advanced to
Thomas and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Here we have a first-rate colonel," he said.
"Oh! indeed!" replied Thomas, gently shaking his shoulder; "so you are
by way of mistaking me for a turncoat?"
M. Thiers withdrew his hand.
"Proceed," said Thomas; "we will listen to you."
M. Thiers then explained the object of the interview.
The Duc d'Orléans wished to further his future political influence, by
taking counsel with these brave young fellows whose heroic insurrection
had brought about the Revolution of July. According to the statement
made by M. Thiers, he should expect them between eight and nine that
night at the Palais-Royal. The Republicans shook their heads. To place
foot inside the Palais-Royal seemed to them equivalent to entering
into compact with the new powers, which was contrary both to their
conscience and to their inclinations. But Thomas again came to the aid
of the negotiator.
"Look here," he said, rising, "let us prove to them we are all right."
And, laying his gun in the chimney-corner, he said--
"At nine o'clock to-night, monsieur ... you can tell the
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom that we will appear in answer to his
invitation."
Thereupon M. Thiers went away.
There had been no such thing as an invitation from the
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom; that gentleman had not the least
desire to see MM. Thomas, Bastide, Chevalon, Grouvelle, Bonvilliers,
Cavaignac, Arago and Guinard. M. Thiers had evolved the idea entirely
out of his own head, hoping that an interview might conciliate their
opinions. It will have been observed, from what he had said to Thomas,
that by opinions he meant ambitions.
The Republicans were punctual to their engagement that night. The
Duchesse d'Orléans, Madame Adélaide and the young princes and
princesses had just arrived, when the Duc d'Orléans was informed that
a deputation awaited him in the large Council Chamber. Deputations had
succeeded one another all day long, and the salons were still not empty.
So another deputation was no surprise to the prince; though he was
surprised by the personnel of this particular one.
M. Thiers was there. As he accompanied His Highness from the salon
to the chamber where the gentlemen were awaiting him, he endeavoured
to put him into possession of the situation, taking half of the
responsibility upon himself, and crediting the Republicans with the
remainder. This had occupied nearly a quarter of an hour, during which
time the deputation was kept waiting, and it began to find the wait
rather long. Then the door suddenly opened, and the duke entered with a
smile upon his lips; but it had not time to mount as far as his eyes;
his mouth smiled, but his expression was questioning.
"Gentlemen," said the prince, "do not doubt my pleasure in receiving
this visit from you--only ..."
Bastide guessed the truth, and looked at M. Thiers.
"You do not understand why we came? Ask M. Thiers to give you the true
explanation, and I am sure he will be pleased to make it, if only to
save the honour and dignity of the cause we represent."
M. Thiers made some equivocal explanation or other, much embarrassed,
which the Duc d'Orléans cut short by saying--
"That will do, monsieur, that will do. I thank you for procuring me the
visit of these, our brave defenders."
Then, turning to them, he waited for one of them to begin. Bonvilliers
was the first to speak.
"Prince," he said, "to-morrow you will be king."
The Duc d'Orléans made a movement.
"To-morrow, monsieur?" he said.
"Well, if not to-morrow, it will be either in three days' time or a
week ... the actual day is of little consequence."
"King!" repeated the Duc d'Orléans after him; "who told you that,
monsieur?"
"The steps your partisans are taking; the coercion they are exercising
upon affairs, not daring to exercise it openly upon men; the placards
with which they have covered the walls; the money they are distributing
in the streets."
"I do not know what my partisans may be doing," the duke replied; "but
I know I have never aspired to the crown, and even now, although I am
being urged by many to accept it, I do not desire it."
"Nevertheless, monseigneur, let us suppose that they will urge you to
such an extent that you will not be able to refuse, may we, in that
case, ask your views on the treaties of 1815? Pay particular attention
to the fact that it is not merely a Liberal revolution that has just
taken place, but a national one; it has been the sight of the tricolour
flag which has roused the people; we have been firing off the last mine
of Waterloo, and it will be easier to drive the people across the Rhine
than to Saint-Cloud."[1]
"Gentlemen," replied the duke, "I am too loyal a Frenchman and patriot
to be a partisan to the treaties of 1815; but I believe France is tired
of warfare; the rupture of treaties means a European war.... Believe
me, it is most important to be very circumspect with regard to foreign
powers, and there are certain sentiments which should not be expressed
too openly."
"Let us then pass on to the aristocracy."
"Very well."
The duke bit his lips like one accustomed to question, who is compelled
in his turn to submit to a cross-examination.
"The aristocracy, you will be compelled to agree," continued
Bonvilliers, "has no longer any hold on society. The Code, in
abolishing the right of primogeniture, of trusts and of entailed
estates and by dividing inheritances to perpetuity has nipped
aristocracy in the bud, and hereditary nobility has had its day.
Perhaps, gentlemen, you are mistaken in this question of heredity,
which is, according to my opinion, the sole source of independence
underlying political institutions.... A man who is sure of coming in
to his father's inheritance need not be afraid of having an opinion
of his own, whereas the man to be elected will hold whatever opinions
are imposed on him. But it is a question worth consideration, and, if
hereditary nobility really crumbles away, _I shall not be the one to
build it up again at my own expense._"
"Prince," Bastide then replied, "I believe in the interest of the
crown offered you; it will be as well to call together the Primary
Assemblies."
"The Primary Assemblies?" said the duke, shuddering. "Now, indeed, I
know that I am conversing with Republicans."
The young men bowed; they had come less in the spirit of allies than
of enmity: they accepted instead of rejecting the qualification. Their
intention was to define the situation between themselves and the ruling
power as clearly as possible.
"Frankly, gentlemen," said the duke, "do you believe a Republic is
possible in a country like ours?"
"We think that there is no country where the good cannot be substituted
for the bad."
The duke shook his head.
"I thought that 1793 had given France a lesson from which she might
have profited."
"Monsieur," said Cavaignac, "you know just as well as we do that
1793 was a Revolution and not a Republic. Besides," he continued, in
strong tones and with a clear utterance which did not allow a single
syllable of what he said to be lost, "so far as I can recollect, the
events which transpired between 1789 and 1793 obtained your entire
adhesion.... You belonged to the Society of the Jacobins?"
There was no room for him to shrink back; the veil over the past was
rudely torn down, and the future King of France appeared between
Robespierre and Collot-d'Herbois.
"Yes, true," said the duke, "I did belong to the Society of the
Jacobins; but, happily, I was not a member of the Convention."
"Both your father and mine were, though, monsieur," said Cavaignac,
"and both of them voted for the death of the king."
"It is exactly on that account, Monsieur Cavaignac," replied the duke,
"that I do not hesitate to say what I have said.... I think that the
son of Philippe-Égalité should be permitted to express his opinion upon
the regicides. Besides, my father has been grossly calumniated; he was
one of the men most worthy of respect that I have ever known!"
"Monseigneur," replied Bonvilliers, who realised that if he did
not interrupt the conversation, it would degenerate into mere
personalities, "we have still another fear...."
"What is it, gentlemen?" asked the prince. "Oh! say it out whilst you
are about it."
"Well, we are afraid (and we have reason for so being), we are afraid,
I say, of seeing the Royalists and the priests block the avenues to the
new régime."
"Oh! as to those people," exclaimed the prince, with an almost menacing
gesture, "set your minds at rest; they have given too many hard knocks
to our House for me to forget them! Half the calumnies to which I have
referred came from them; an eternal barrier separates us.... It was a
good thing for the Elder Branch!"
The Republicans looked at one another in astonishment at the strong
feeling, almost amounting to hatred, with which the prince uttered the
words, "It was a good thing for the Elder Branch!"
"Well, gentlemen," the prince continued, "have I perchance advanced
a truth which was unknown to you, in proclaiming thus openly the
difference of principles and interests which have always divided the
Younger Branch from the Elder, the House of Orléans from the reigning
House? Oh! our hatred does not date from yesterday, gentlemen; it goes
back as far as Philippe, the brother of Louis XIV.! It is like the
case of my grandfather, the Regent; who was it that slandered him?
The priests and the Royalists; for some day, gentlemen, when you have
studied historical questions more profoundly, and dug to the roots of
the tree you want to cut down, you will realise what the Regent was,
and the services he rendered France by decentralising Versailles, and
by making money circulate all over the country, to the extreme arteries
of social life, as he did by his system of finance. Ah! I only ask one
thing: if God calls upon me to reign over France, as you said just now,
I hope He will grant me a portion of the Regent's genius!"
He then held forth at length upon the ameliorations to which the
Regent's scheme of politics had led in the diplomatic relations of
France with Europe; in connection with England, he spoke a few words
showing that he should look for the same support from her as his
grandfather had received.
"Pardon me, monsieur," Cavaignac said, "but I think a King of France
should find his real support in his own country."
The Duc d'Orléans did not evade giving an explanation, but, with his
customary facility of elocution, to do him justice, he revealed the
system which afterwards gained great celebrity under the name of _Juste
milieu._
Cavaignac, to whom he addressed his remarks more particularly, since
he had raised the question, listened to the prince's lengthy political
propositions with the utmost impassiveness. Then, when he had finished,
he said--
"All right, we need not be uneasy; with such a system as that, you will
not reign longer than four years!"
The duke smiled dubiously. The Republicans, who had now learnt all
they wanted to know, bowed to indicate their wish to withdraw. And the
prince, noticing this, returned their bow; but, not wishing to leave
them the last word, he said--
"Well, gentlemen, you will come to my way of thinking.... See if you do
not!"
"Never!" Cavaignac pronounced sharply.
"Never is too positive a word, and we have an old French proverb which
asserts that we must not say it: Fontaine...."
But before he could finish his sentence, the deputation had already
reached the door. The duke watched their retreat with a gloomy
expression of countenance., This was the first cloud to darken his
sun, and it contained all the constituents of the storms that were to
overthrow him.
Now that we have seen both men and principles face to face, my readers
will, I hope, be better able to follow the events of 5 and 6 June, 13
and 14 April, 12 May and 24 February.
Ten minutes after the withdrawal of the Republicans, they brought
word to the Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom of the resignation of
the members of the Municipal Commission. Underlying this resignation
the Duc d'Orléans discovered the presence of a complete ministry all
ready made. It was composed of the following: Dupont (of l'Eure),
Minister of Justice; Baron Louis, of Finance; General Gérard, of War;
Casimir Périer, Home Minister; de Rigny, of Marine; Bignon, for Foreign
Affairs; Guizot, for Public Instruction. But, even before this list
had reached the Palais-Royal, one of the newly appointed ministers
had already sent in his resignation--namely, Casimir Périer. Casting
a glance in the direction of Versailles, he had seen that Charles X.,
who had only just left Saint-Cloud, had not yet reached Rambouillet. It
was a very bold act to show one's colours to a new Government when the
old régime was still close to the new. Ambition had led him to accept
his post, but fear made him decline it. M. Casimir Périer rushed off to
Bonnelier and begged him to strike out his name from the list. But it
was too late; the list had gone, and Bonnelier could not do anything
beyond suggesting an erratum in the _Moniteur_, which Périer accepted
as better than nothing. M. de Broglie's name was inserted in the place
made vacant by Casimir Périer's resignation.
Was it not a strange thing that men who were to occupy high positions
in the future reign dared not risk their names, when so many others who
would gain nothing by the great change had been willing to risk their
heads in the cause? True, those who had risked their heads had done so
for France and not for Louis-Philippe.
The next morning, when I went to call on the new lieutenant-general,
he was talking with Vatout and Casimir Delavigne, whom he left to come
across to me. Already acquainted with my expedition to Soissons, he
held out his hand and said--
"Monsieur Dumas, you have just enacted your very finest drama!"
At that moment, General La Fayette was suffering one of the most
terrible assaults at the Hôtel de Ville that had hitherto been directed
against him.
Now let me relate what had become of Charras and Lothon: I take some
pride, as will be understood, in dwelling at greater length upon
the men whose names were not to melt away with the smoke of the
battlefield. We saw them leaving the Hôtel de Ville, bearers of an
order from Mauguin and a proclamation from La Fayette. We forgot to
tell how Lothon, whom we left on the 29th, stretched on the pavement
at the Palais-Royal, happened to be at the Hôtel de Ville with Charras
on the 30th. Lothon (alas! he is now dead!) was one of those rare
men whose heart was as good as his head, whom powder intoxicates,
who are excited by noise, and who probably love danger for its own
sake more than for the honour it may bring. When Lothon had lain on
the pavement for nearly an hour, he was picked up for dead; a bullet
had pierced his forehead and seven others had riddled his hat, which
had fallen beside him. The hat might have been taken as a target.
Whilst he was being carried away to be buried along with others at the
Louvre, he moved his head slightly; and this protest, feeble though it
was, against being treated as was evidently intended by his bearers,
proved incontestable. A soldier of the National Guard took him in,
dressed his wounds, put him to bed, and then left him to go in search
of news, never supposing that a man who had had his head broken by a
bullet would dream of getting up to return to the firing, should there
by chance be fighting still going on in any corner of Paris. However,
that was Lothon's first idea. Scarcely had he recovered consciousness
than he re-dressed himself, buckled on his sword again (that sword
which he had seized from the properties of the théâtre de l'Odéon,
as was evident from its cross handle and sheath, which had lost its
leathern end), and, in spite of the outcries made by the wife of his
host, he set off, stumbling like a drunken man. Charras found him that
evening on returning home. Lothon could not recollect half what he had
done, or anything at all of where he had been. But next day he felt
well enough to rejoin Charras at the Hôtel de Ville. We have seen how
they were deputed to go and fetch the 4th Regiment of artillery, in
garrison at la Fère. For three days Charras had been penniless. When
the insurrection had broken out he possessed fifteen francs and a bill
of exchange for a hundred crowns, sent him by his father, a Paris
banker; but since the 26th every bank had been closed, and if his bill
had not been accepted by Laffitte, he would certainly not have obtained
from the boldest bill-broker of Paris fifty francs out of his hundred
crowns. Fifteen francs went on the 26th and 27th; on the 28th he got
food where he could; on the 29th he dined at the Hôtel de Ville, with
the rest of Paris; finally, on the morning of the 30th, Lionel de
l'Aubespin, grandson of La Fayette, shared his purse with Charras. When
he and Lothon started for la Fère, they found themselves the possessors
of twenty francs! They could not afford to take post on that small
amount; so the two heroes asked for a letter to the new director of
posts, M. Chardel, who had been appointed, the day before, by Baude
and Arago. By virtue of this letter, M. Chardel gave them an order to
the various posting-masters along the route, putting horses at their
service, and he himself gave them the two best cobs out of his stable.
Charras and Lothon set off at as fast a gallop as the barricades would
allow; two or three shots were fired at them because they were taken
for officers of the Royal Guard attempting flight; but they reached
Bourget, and drew up at the livery stables of the same posting-master
who had given me horses and a carriage an hour previously.
The roads to Soissons and to la Fère both start together, and only
divide at the Gonesse and at a spot called the _Patte-d'oie_; here the
bifurcation on the right leads to Dammartin, Villers-Cotterets and
Soissons, and the other to Senlis, Compiègne, Noyon and la Fère. The
worthy patriot of whom the two young men inquired for saddle-horses
perceived at once that they (Lothon especially) could not manage half
that distance at full speed; he brought out a second trap, which he
horsed, and he despatched them in it, wishing them God-speed. This
wish, like that of "Good hunting!" no doubt brought them misfortune.
Lothon was the first to get into the trap, and, to make room for
Charras, he had to raise his sword. Night began to fall, and Charras,
not noticing the sword, the point of which, as we have mentioned,
was poking out at the end of its sheath, suddenly felt the icy cold
of steel through his armpit, and tried to fling himself forward; but
Lothon took him by the shoulders, thinking he had lost his footing,
and tried to draw him in farther towards his side. Charras in vain
shrieked, "You are killing me, I say!" but Lothon could hear nothing
because of the bandage round his head, which stopped up his ear, and
continued to draw him closer on the sword-point. Luckily, Charras was
able to make a violent effort, tore himself out of his companion's
hands and fell into the arms of the post-master, who, seeing that
something extraordinary was happening inside the trap, seconded
Charras's efforts by drawing him backwards. They went back into the
house, and Charras took off his coat, waistcoat and shirt. The steel
had penetrated an inch and a half or so under the armpit, and blood was
flowing freely. They scraped some tinder and plugged the wound with a
wet handkerchief, and, thanks to this apparatus, kept in its place by
the wounded man's arm, the bleeding was stopped. Lothon was in a state
of desperation, but, as his despair led to nothing, Charras encouraged
him to give it up. As they re-entered the carriage, the post-master
asked them--
"Have you any arms besides your swords?"
"Upon my word, we haven't!" they replied.
Then the post-master went to a cupboard and brought out a couple of
pistols, which he loaded and pushed into the tails of Charras's coat.
I should like to mention this excellent fellow's name, but who knows
whether his patriotism of 1830 might not get him into trouble in 1853?
The two wounded men fell asleep, ordering the postillions to put the
horses between the shafts. Generally, postillions proved true patriots,
and, although Charras could not give them large tips out of his twenty
francs, they acquitted themselves conscientiously, by driving fast
and changing horses quickly. Moreover, the post-master of Bourget had
advised the two young men to send a second postillion on ahead of them;
since M. Chardel's order proscribed no limits, it cost them no more to
do this. All went well as far as Ribécourt. Here they woke Charras.
"What is the matter?" asked the sleeper, rubbing his eyes.
"The post-master will not give us any horses," said the
head-postillion, who had been obliged to stop there because of this
refusal.
"What! the post-master won't give us horses!"
"No; he says he does not know anything about the Provisional
Government."
Charras, who had been hunting for it long and vainly, very nearly said
he did not know anything about it either; but this was not the moment
for joking; time was flying. He left Lothon still asleep, who had not
heard him when he cried out, "You are killing me!" and had therefore
no right to hear anything else. Leaping from the trap, he ran to the
post-master, who was furious at being waked at two in the morning, and
stood on his doorstep with the evident intention of contesting the
point.
"So you do not intend to give me horses?" asked Charras.
"That is so."
"In spite of the order from the Director of Posts?"
"I don't know this man Chardel!"
"Ah! So you do not know Chardel?"
"No."
Charras drew the proclamation from his pocket.
"Do you know that signature?"
"La Fayette? Not any more than the other!"
"No?"
"No!"
Charras next drew his pistols from his pocket, cocking them at the same
moment as he placed them against the postmaster's breast--
"Ah!... Very well, do you recognise these?" he said.
"But, monsieur," exclaimed the man, "what are you going to do?"
"Going to do? By Jove! To kill you, if you don't give me horses!"
"But, monsieur, devil take it! men do not kill people like that ...
they explain things."
"Yes, when they have time, which I have not."
The postillions, ranged behind the post-master, were grinning in the
shadow, rubbing their hands and making signs to Charras to stick to it.
They need not have been anxious on this score.
"Well, then, monsieur, if you take up such an attitude as that, I must
give you horses; but be very sure it is only because you compel me by
force to do so."
"What does that matter to me so long as you give them me!"
"Horses for these gentlemen!" said the post-master, returning to his
room and yielding the battlefield to Charras.
"And good ones, look you, postillions."
"Oh! don't be uneasy, young gentleman; we will see to that," replied
the postillion. "Get back into your carriage and continue your nap....
You are going to Noyon?"
"To la Fère."
"It's all the same."
Charras returned to the carriage, and so great was his fatigue that
he fell asleep again before the horses were harnessed. Probably the
postillion kept his word, for when Charras woke again, they had
passed Noyon and day had begun to appear. Annoyed at witnessing the
dawn alone, he poked Lothon till he too awoke. The sky was superb,
"and jocund day,"[2] to quote Shakespeare, stood "tiptoe on the misty
mountain tops," ready to descend into the plain like a luminous cloud;
the leaves on the trees whispered together; the golden corn swayed
gracefully; and from the midst of the fast-ripening ears the lark,
daughter of day, flew up with quick-beating wing, making the air
resound with her clear, joyous song. The peasants opened their doors to
inhale the morning breeze, and made ready to go to work or to market,
to the fields or to the town.
"Diable!" exclaimed Charras. "Look at this countryside: it has not the
least appearance of being in a state of revolution."
"No, indeed it has not!" replied Lothon.
"Do you suppose these folk know about Chardel, Mauguin and La Fayette?"
"I would rather not say."
"Hum!" said Charras, who fell into a train of reflection that was not
exactly rose-coloured.
Lothon took advantage of Charras's ponderings to resume his slumbers.
They reached Chauny. The town was just as peaceful as the villages,
the streets were as quiet as the fields! As a diver can feel the
temperature of the water grow colder the deeper he plunges, so
the farther they advanced into the provinces did they feel an
ever-increasing frigidness take the place of the feverishness of Paris.
Exactly the same experience happened to Charras as did to me: he
reached the gates of la Fère determined to carry out his project, but
filled with doubt as to how things would turn out.
He woke Lothon, who still slept, as they came nearer to the town. Soon
they would find themselves confronted by the 4th Regiment of artillery,
and the situation was sufficiently serious for them to face it with
an attention fully wide awake. The gate was open, and the two young
fellows went straight to the guard-house overlooking the gate. Lothon,
with his black bandage over his eye and his hat placed over one ear
on account of his wound, looked ten years older than he really was;
moreover, his sword of the time of François I. aged him by another
three centuries. Charras, who had been discharged from the École
polytechnique four months previously, had allowed his moustache to
grow since (this would not have been allowed at the École); with his
borrowed coat too long and too large for him, his policeman's sword
hung round him by a shoulder-belt instead of a proper sword-belt, his
trousers all covered with the blood of a Swiss soldier--who, badly
injured, had thrown himself into Charras's arms to prevent being
despatched completely--Charras looked far more like a bandit than an
honest man. But indeed to practised eyes neither of them looked like
a student of the École polytechnique. However, all went well so long
as they remained in the carriage. They had lowered the hood, and the
soldiers on guard could see Lothon's tricoloured cockade, and the bunch
of three-coloured ribbons which Charras had exchanged for the sleeves
of the Swiss, a decoration all very well in Paris, but too eccentric
for the provinces. The magic colours produced their usual effect:
the sentinel presented arms, and the quarter-master who answered the
summons addressed Lothon as _mon officier._
"Well!" said Charras to Lothon, "so far things don't seem to be going
badly."
"Yes," said Lothon, "but it is with the colonel we shall have to
deal...."
"Ah! by Jove! then we shall see," said Charras.
"You are going to try and be very eloquent, I hope?"
"Rather! Hurrah for Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, the Grand Army and the
devil and his horns! I cannot help touching him, unless his heart be
encircled with three layers of steel, as Horace says."
"And suppose it is?"
"In that case.... Ah! I don't know! But then ... Oh, hang it all, man,
you worry me with all your 'ifs'!"
"Never mind. Just answer that question: suppose he isn't touched?"
"Well! Shan't we still have the Bourget post-master's spring crucifixes
to fall back on? We will play on them. Upon my word and honour, anybody
would think you did not know the air!"
"Of course, I do!"
"If so, why are you quibbling?"
"I wished to know if you had really decided on anything."
"Oh! I say, what humbug!"
This dialogue, as will be easily understood, took place in an
undertone, whilst the quarter-master, who was to conduct the young men
to the colonel's house, was preparing his military toilet. He returned
and got into the carriage, which set off at full trot till it reached
the colonel's house. At the gate, Charras, like the conscientious man
he was, handed one of the pistols to Lothon.
"Good!" said Lothon, "thanks.... Give me the other one too now."
"What for?"
"To see if they are in good order and have not lost their primings....
Anyhow, come, give it me."
"Here it is."
"Now get out.... You can see the quarter-master is waiting for you."
Charras leapt down from the carriage, and they went upstairs to the
first floor. At the door Charras turned round towards Lothon.
"What about the pistol?"
Lothon had stuffed it into his pocket.
"It is all right where it is: go on."
"What do you mean by 'it is all right where it is'?"
"Never mind: go on."
He pushed Charras into the anteroom. Lothon, just by chance, more
prudent then than his comrade, had uncocked it. But they had chosen an
unfortunate place to quarrel in, especially a quarrel of that nature.
The two young men went on conversing mutely with their eyes, and a
few seconds later found themselves inside the colonel's drawing-room.
Colonel Husson was a man of forty, with strongly marked features and
a resolute and proud expression, a real soldier type. He was chatting
with one of the majors of his regiment. He received our two messengers
politely but with reserve.
"What can we do for you, gentlemen?" he asked, after the preliminary
interchange of compliments.
Charras in a few words related the story of the three days: the taking
of the Louvre, the flight of the king and the nomination of the
Provisional Government--the whole history of the Revolution, in short.
The two officers listened to the recital more and more coldly as he
reached the end.
Charras deemed this was the right moment for producing the two papers
from his pocket. He handed them both to the colonel. The one was in an
envelope and sealed--that was Mauguin's letter; the other was simply
folded in four--this was La Fayette's proclamation. By chance, the
colonel began by breaking open first the sealed envelope containing
Mauguin's letter. He read the first lines, then looked at the signature.
"Magin ... Maguin.... Who is this person?"
"Mauguin," replied Charras, "why, M. Mauguin, a member of the
Provisional Government!"
"Mauguin?" the colonel repeated, looking at the major.
"Yes, a lawyer," the latter replied.
"A lawyer!" said the colonel, in tones that sent a shudder through
Charras.
"Ah!" he said in a whisper to Lothon, "I believe we are done for!"
"I myself am sure of it!" said Lothon.
"Then now for our pistols!"
"Wait a bit ... there is time enough yet."
The colonel was reading the second despatch, and General La Fayette's
name seemed to be correcting the bad impression made by the name of
Mauguin. Had they but possessed a third letter signed by a second
general they would have been saved. But, unluckily, they had no third
letter.
"Well, gentlemen?" asked the colonel, when he had read the second
letter.
"Well, colonel," Charras replied plainly, "the Provisional Government
thought it was sending us to patriots; it seems that it was mistaken,
that is all."
"Do you know, messieurs, to what this error of yours exposes you?"
"Why, yes!" said Charras; "to be shot."
"I am obliged to leave you, messieurs; give me your word of honour that
you will not attempt to leave this room."
"Our parole? ... Come now! ... Have us shot, if you will,--you must
answer for the responsibility of the execution to the Provisional
Government,--but we will not give you our parole."
"At all events, give up your swords, then."
"No, no, no!"
The colonel bit his lips and said something in a low voice to the major
and prepared to go out. Charras made a backward movement in order to
touch Lothon, then said in a whisper--
"The pistol, for goodness' sake give me the pistol! You can see that
this rascal means to have us shot!"
"Bah!" was Lothon's reply, "_à la guerre comme à la guerre._"
"You seem to take things very easy, you donkey; you are half dead as
it is, and won't take much finishing off.... But, except for the hole
you were imbecile enough to make in me, I am hale enough, and I have no
desire to be killed like a chicken!"
"Oh! set your mind at rest!... They do not shoot people down like this
without warning, you bet!"
Meanwhile, the colonel went away, and the two messengers were left with
the major. The major seemed a better sort than the colonel; he had
evidently remained, by his chiefs order, to make the young men talk and
to find out whether all they had stated was really the truth. As their
story was correct, there was no danger of their contradicting each
other. Moreover, Lothon left the whole brunt of the conversation to
Charras; for, as he was lounging on a sort of sofa, he fell asleep in
five minutes' time. In the midst of the interview an officer appeared
on the scene.
"Comrade," he said, addressing Charras, "I have come from the colonel,
to whom you would not give your parole.... My instructions are not to
let you out of my sight;... but as I am not a policeman--why there!..."
He unbuckled his sword and flung it into an arm-chair.
"You can do what you like!"
"Monsieur," said Charras, "our intention is not to quit la Fère, and in
proof thereof look...."
And he pointed out to the officer Lothon sound asleep.
The colonel returned in an hour's time. He appeared very much excited
and very irresolute. Suddenly he stopped in front of Charras.
"I will wager you are hungry?" he said.
Charras merely shrugged his shoulders and answered--
"That is a singular question to put to me, surely?"
"Ah!" said the colonel, "we must not let anyone die of hunger, not even
prisoners."
"Yes, it is better to fatten them up before you shoot them, is it not?"
remarked Charras.
"Who is talking of shooting you? Come," exclaimed the colonel, opening
a door, "breakfast."
A table was brought in, fully laid as on the stage. The colonel
departed from his usual custom and breakfasted in his drawing-room
instead of his dining-room--or, rather, he did not breakfast, for he
did not sit down to the table. Charras roused Lothon, who was in a
bad temper at being waked, specially since he did not know for what
purpose he had been awakened. When he knew that it was for breakfast,
he softened. They had just finished the cutlets when the door opened
quickly and a man of about fifty dressed in uniform appeared.
"Pardon, colonel," he said, "but I am Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau of
the Engineers and second in command at the École polytechnique under
the Empire.... I have been told that you are keeping two of my old boys
prisoners, and have come to see if it is so."
Then, addressing himself to Charras and Lothon, he said--
"Good-day, messieurs; I bid you welcome."
"Welcome?" repeated the colonel.
"Yes, yes, that is what I said.... And to you, colonel, I say that you
have no right to detain these gentlemen. I am told they have been sent
on a mission from the Provisional Government.... They are officers with
a flag of truce, and it is the universal custom not to arrest those
intrusted with missions of that nature."
So saying, he shook Charras's hand with such heartiness as to make him
cry out, for it caused his wound to re-open.
"What is the matter?" asked Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau.
"Nothing, nothing at all, merely that I have a wound under my arm."
"Indeed, and it looks as though your friend had one in his head,
too.... We must have all these wounds dressed before anything else,
colonel."
"I have thought of that, monsieur," replied the colonel, "and I do not
know why the surgeon-major has not yet come."
At that moment he came in.
"Here, monsieur," the colonel said to him, "these are the young men I
spoke of.... See if they require your services."
Charras wanted to refuse, but Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau signed to
him to allow it, and took the colonel and major away into an adjoining
room. The surgeon-major first dressed Lothon's head; the bullet had
penetrated to the bone, which it had twisted and left bare. He must
have been bewitched to be out of his bed after receiving such an
injury. The surgeon wanted to bleed the wounded man, but to this he
positively objected.
"I may at any moment require the use of both my arms," he said, "so
leave them intact.... My head is quite bad enough without other hurt!"
Then came Charras.
"Good gracious, monsieur," said the surgeon-major, "you had a lucky
escape! An inch or two more to the left and you would have had the
artery severed."
"And to think," Charras said, pointing to Lothon, "that it was that
brute who did it for me with his François sword!"
"Come," said Lothon, "there you go, crying out about your blessed
artery which is not even scratched!... I did not know you were as soft
as that!"
Charras began laughing, when Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau entered.
"All is going right," he whispered to Charras. "I will not leave you
for a minute until you are outside the town."
There had just been a meeting of officers, who had decided that,
whether with or without the colonel's participation, they would range
themselves on the side of the Provisional Government. The colonel
returned in half an hour's time.
"Messieurs," he said, "you must give me your word of honour to leave la
Fère instantly, and then you shall be free."
"I will give you nothing of the kind," said Charras.
"You will not!"
"No."
"You will, at any rate, engage not to cause any disturbance in my
regiment?"
"I will not.... I like your suggestions, indeed! We come in the name
of the constituted Government, and it is we who possess authority, you
who are rebels; we could do you a bad turn for having us arrested,
and you ask us for our word of honour to quit la Fère, and not to try
to influence your regiment.... Come now! Either shoot us or let us go
free!"
"Well, then," said the colonel, "go to the devil with you!" and he held
out his hand to them, laughing.
They both pressed his hand and went out, accompanied by
Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau, who, according to his promise, kept as
close to them as a shadow.
It may be gathered that the town was in a state of excitement. The
officer who had been set to mount guard over them left the house with
them, and, after shaking hands at the door, set off at a run to rejoin
his comrades. The carriage had returned to the posting-house, to which
they wended their way. At every step of the road the young men received
manifest tokens of sympathy. When they reached the post, they were
rejoined by the major.
"Messieurs," he said to them, "the colonel begs you as a favour to go
away; he gives you his word of honour that he and his regiment will
yield allegiance to the Provisional Government.... But, at the least,
you might allow him the credit for this adherence."
"Oh! if that is all," Charras and Lothon both exclaimed together, "by
all means let us start!"
"One moment," said Lieutenant-Colonel Duriveau, "how are you off for
money?"
Charras turned out his pockets; he had hardly five francs left out of
Aubespin's twenty francs.
"How much would you like?" said the lieutenant-colonel, pulling out
several bags of five-franc pieces from his trouser-pockets.
"A hundred francs," said Charras.
"Will that be enough?"
"Surely! we came with but twenty."
"Then we'll say a hundred."
And he handed a rouleau to Charras, who broke it in two as though it
had been a stick of chocolate, and gave half or thereabouts to Lothon.
"Now for the carriage and horses!" shouted the two young men.
"Oh! the posting stage between here and Chauny is my affair. I am going
to drive you," said a jovial-faced, sturdy-looking butcher, who had
stationed himself in front of the post-house with his little spring
cart, inside which five or six trusses of straw composed the seats, and
he rolled up his sleeves; "and I guess," he added, "you will never have
been driven so fast."
"Very well, thanks, comrade!" said Charras, he and Lothon seating
themselves beside him.
"Here! postillion, follow us with the carriage!" they shouted. "Adieu,
colonel!"
"Adieu, my lads!"
"Off we go!" cried the butcher, cracking his whip, "and _Vive la
Charte! Vive La Fayette! Vive le Gouvernement Provisoire!_ Down with
Charles X., the dauphin, Polignac and the whole lot of them! Houp!..."
And, as the butcher had promised, the cart whirled away as fast as a
waterspout. At Chauny, they parted from the butcher and re-mounted
their carriage. Next day, at ten in the morning, an hour after me,
Charras and Lothon reached the Hôtel de Ville just at the moment when
General La Fayette, who was always gallant, was kissing the hand
of Mademoiselle Mante, who, accompanied by M. Samson and a third
member, had come to lay the Comédie-Française under the protection
of the nation. This deputation kept the two young men waiting for
half an hour, during which time they acquainted themselves with what
had happened since their departure: how the Duc d'Orléans was made
lieutenant-general, and how Louis-Philippe was going to be made king.
"Ah! that is how matters stand," Lothon exclaimed to Charras; "well,
you shall hear what I have to say to it all to old La Fayette!"
It was now Charras's turn to try and calm Lothon. But Lothon would
not be quieted: his wound, the heat, the excitement, the little wine
he had drunk, his refusal to be bled, all combined to send him into a
state of delirium. Brain fever had set in. He entered the room where
La Fayette was, hustling everybody who tried to prevent him; for, as I
have mentioned, La Fayette was very carefully guarded. Charras followed
Lothon. Then, crossing his arms over his breast, his hat that had been
riddled into holes by the seven bullets thrown on the ground, his
forehead bound up in the black bandage, his eyes flashing with fever,
his cheeks purple with anger, the young fellow called the old man to
account in terms which ought to have been taken down in shorthand to be
properly reproduced, with respect to the liberty which had been bought
at the price of much bloodshed, which the People had confided to him
and which he had allowed himself to be robbed of by the chicanery and
ambition of courtiers. He was so fine, so great, so eloquent, so full
of untold poetic feeling, to the point even of frenzy, that no one
dared interrupt him.
"General," Charras whispered to La Fayette, "forgive him.... You see he
is delirious."
"Yes, yes," said La Fayette.
Then to Lothon--
"My friend--my young friend--there, there ... calm yourself!"
Then, turning round--
"Is there no doctor at hand to bleed this young man?" he asked.
Lothon heard the suggestion.
"To bleed me?" he exclaimed. "Oh! no, no! Since we have again lost
liberty, my blood shall not flow by the lance of a doctor ... but by
the bayonets of the Royal Guard, under the bullets of the Swiss....
Leave me the blood in my veins, general; so long as the Bourbons remain
in France, both Older and Younger Branches, I shall have need of it!
Come, Charras. Come!"
He rushed from the room, leaving La Fayette thoughtful and troubled.
Perhaps the words that had just fallen on the general's ear
corresponded to the voice of his conscience; perhaps he had already
reproached himself in the same way that Lothon had just done.
"I should like to be alone," he said.
And, before the door was closed, they could see him bury that fine and
noble head between his hands, that head upon which the children of the
Republic had just invoked the anathemas of posterity.
[1] As none of the above conversation has yet been reported entirely,
I appeal to history and to the memories of persons who were present at
the interview. As to the words spoken by Godefroy Cavaignac and the
king's reply, I can certify their authenticity, as I wrote them down at
the time, from Godefroy's own dictation, and he was quite incapable of
untruthfulness.
[2] _Romeo and Juliet._